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"Hospital car parking charges"

About: Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford) / Endoscopy

(as the patient),

I recently had to attend the RD and E Hospital in Exeter for an endoscopy examination (a procedure where a camera is inserted down the throat into the stomach and as far as the upper area of the digestive system). The staff there led by Dr Jane…   were fabulous, totally professional and they made the experience absolutely nothing to be worried about, (even without sedation which is offered). Patients can even view their own innards…..if they can, ..er …stomach it!

 What I found much harder to swallow than the camera and tube, was outside afterwards, the horrendous car parking charges!

Technically we had to pay £6.40, for 1 hour 35 minutes ( that equates to £102.33. for 24 hours). The signs say that you can park for 30 minutes free, but when you actually come to pay you discover that you need to pay for all of your stay if it is over the 30 minutes, and our 2 hrs 5 minutes pushed us into the 2- 4 hour category. (It’s a state of the art digital machine, it could easily calculate your stay into nano seconds, and charge accordingly.)

So we had to pay for 1 hr 55 mins un used car park time and it’s not even possible to pass on your ticket to another patient to ease their day a little, because the tip top ace machine photos your registration plate entering and leaving the site. (It’s another story but we had a battle with it to prevent getting fined, we were supposed to be ‘on the system to not pay’ because we were taking part, as unpaid volunteers, in a 4 year medical study and had to visit several times each summer )

Back to the story, we had to travel in by car because had I required sedation patients must have a person with them, and also at that time in the morning the buses have not started on Sunday. The car park was almost deserted it wasn’t even necessary to ration spaces.

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Responses

Response from Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust last month
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Submitted on 08/09/2025 at 17:21
Published on Care Opinion at 21:08


Thank you for your feedback regarding your visit to the Royal Devon and in particular your experience with parking at the Trust.

You say that you were parked on site for 2 hours and five minutes. The charge for this is, as you say, £6.40. For those dropping off or collecting equipment or prescriptions for example, and are on site for up to 30 minutes, then yes, it is free to park to help to support this short stay requirement. So, in essence, the first 30 minutes is free of any part of the stay, but any time over this will be charged for. Unfortunately, you were 5 minutes over the hour taking you in to the next charging bracket and therefore were charged for a stay of up to 4 hours on site (3.5hrs chargeable).

A decision was made in April 2025, by the local Devon Hospitals, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals Plymouth (Derriford) and the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Royal Devon) after great consideration, to make the charges to park the same across their hospital’s. This was seen as a unified approach for patients and visitors attending any of these hospital’s to all pay the same fee.

There is a Park and Ride service provided by the Trust, Monday - Friday for patient’s and visitors who are able to, to travel from the Sowton Park and Ride to the Wonford site. The charge for this is £2 return and starts at 07:00 running every 10 – 15 minutes with a last return to Sowton at 19:00. As you saw when you visited on a Sunday, parking is not limited and therefore the Trust cannot warrant providing the Park & Ride service at the weekends.

Parking charges for patients, visitors and staff, help to ensure that costs for car park maintenance, monitoring, are not diverted from healthcare budgets and any extra funds are reinvested back in to patient care.

The Trust complies with Government Guidance regarding free parking for certain patients, visitors and staff and will also consider supporting work, on a case by case basis, such as you have done by volunteering for a research study. The Travel Team at the Wonford site can be contacted to help with this. Please find below the other categories eligible for free parking -

Blue Badge holders: Simply take your Blue Badge to a reception desk on entering the hospital, and your vehicle registration will be registered for free parking. You will not need to do anything further on leaving the car park.

Next of kin or registered carer for those with long-stay relatives: Speak to the team on the ward and they be able to help for suitable arrangements to be put in place.

Registered carers with a Devon Carers card: Present your card to a reception desk on entering the hospital, and your vehicle registration will be registered for free parking.

Patients admitted directly from ED or clinics: The ward team can arrange this.

Volunteers and volunteer drivers: Our volunteer coordinator cab arrange this.

Parents of children (under 18) who are an inpatient at hospital overnight: Register your vehicle at reception or at Bramble ward.

Resident parent/parents whose babies are being cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Speak to the team on the unit and they will arrange this for you.

Patients visiting on a regular basis for treatment I.e. Oncology, Haematology, Renal and Diabetes departments: When you attend your department reception as normal, please give the reception staff your vehicle registration number and vehicle details and they will add your vehicle to the exemption list.

Relatives and registered carers of patients being cared for on the end-of-life care pathway: Speak to the ward team and they will arrange this for you.

Some patients in receipt of certain state benefits may be entitled to a refund of their parking costs and travel expenses. Visit our general office to find out more.

I do hope this helps explain a bit more behind the reason for charging to park at the Royal Devon and thank you again for your time volunteering and for contacting Care Opinion.

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