"The service in the hospital is ..."

Thank you for your comments. There is a commonly-held misconception that the provision of car parking is virtually cost-free. Unfortunately this is far from the case and the Trust incurs significant expenditure in providing car parking. These costs include:

 Contractors Staffing

 Trust Staffing

 Parking Barriers and Maintenance

 Intercom Equipment and Maintenance

 CCTV Equipment and Maintenance

 Energy and Water Charges

 Grounds Maintenance

 Local Authority Rates

 Capital Charges

Parking charges only go part of the way to meeting the full cost of providing parking and the remainder is subsidised by the Trust. We do not believe that it would be appropriate for the entire cost of parking to be met by the Trust, as this would divert resources from direct patient care. Despite increases in the costs of providing car parking, the Trust has not increased charges for visitors this year. Our charges and concessions are in line with other similar trusts in the area.

We have made significant investment in visitor car parking over the past few years

including:

 a new 15-space disabled car park immediately outside Physiotherapy at Solihull

 relocating reserved parking from the Lode Lane entrance to immediately outside the North Entrance at Solihull

During the next 12 months we plan to create an additional 70 spaces at Solihull Hospital.

Unlike commercial car parking providers, we allow those individuals in receipt of an income-related state benefit to park without charge. Qualifying benefits include:

 Housing Benefit

 Council Tax Benefit

 Pension Credit

We also offer a range of heavily discounted multiple-day parking tickets for those visitors making a series of visits for treatment or to visit relatives. These measures ensure that those with the greatest need, whether through financial hardship or a requirement for regular attendance receive every assistance from the Trust.