Two hospitals in Carlisle and Whitehaven are making almost £1m in parking by charging both their own staff and visitors, a recent news report in the local media has been able to suggest.
The North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, which is the new trust resulting from the merger of North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust and Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, charged their staff £718,769 to park at the sites in 2018/19, while the remaining income of £225,853 was made from patient and visitor parking.
Figures were released by NHS Digital as part of the hospital trust’s Estates Returns Information Collection Summary.
North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, which is the new trust resulting from the merger of North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust and Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said the income generated from staff parking is invested back in hospital services and maintenance.
A trust spokesman said: “The income generated from staff parking permits is invested back into hospital services, security, car park and maintenance. “Along with other NHS hospitals across the country the trust staff are able to obtain a staff parking permit which offers parking at a discounted rate. As the two trusts have now merged, joining together policies such as car parking is something we will look into.
“Staff are encouraged to car share wherever possible and a number of our staff do use public transport, however this is not always possible due to rurality of Cumbria and we have staff that are based within the community who are required to drive to see patients.”
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