Proposals to charge Blue Badge holders to park at St Albans City Hospital will be scrutinised by St Albans City and District Council’s Local Services Scrutiny Committee.
At a meeting on 4 April, the Committee will consider West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust’s decision to introduce parking charges for Blue Badge holders at the hospital. The Blue Badge disabled parking scheme allows drivers or passengers with a permanent disability to park near to where they need to go.
The Committee will also look at the Trust’s decision to stop providing a free bus service that takes staff and patients between three hospital sites.
The Trust has told the Council that the changes are aimed at making its transport and parking arrangements fair and equitable to all and financially sustainable. During March it will be carrying out a listening exercise with residents and staff about the changes which are due to come into effect on 1 April.
The Council passed a motion on 26 February inviting senior representatives from the Trust to the Scrutiny Committee meeting on 4 April to answer questions about the changes.
Councillor Robert Donald, Chair of the Local Services Scrutiny Committee for St Albans City and District Council, said: “There has been a predictably rapid and angry response from both local residents and District Councillors to these latest cost-saving proposals by the West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust. In the light of this reaction, Council has asked our Committee to scrutinise the decision of the NHS Trust Board to introduce car parking charges for Blue Badge holders and axe the inter-hospital sites bus for staff and patients. These decisions appear to penalise those who are disabled or have long-term illnesses disproportionately.
“We need to understand why the Trust came to this conclusion and ascertain how much additional income this will actually provide for the Trust to spend on clinical services in the coming year as opposed to increasing the profits of the car parking contractors. On behalf of the public, Committee members will robustly question whether there are other alternatives which would be more acceptable to the local community which could be introduced instead either to raise the necessary increased revenue or to make the savings. We will seek to use this meeting and the Trust’s current ‘listening exercise’ to explore whether this decision can be reversed and, if so, what the implications would be for the Trust, the District Council and residents.”
”We obviously want to hear from members of the public with any comments or questions about the decisions ahead of the meeting so that these can be put to the Trust’s senior representatives. Please email these to scrutiny@stalbans.gov.uk by March 25 and we will endeavour to take these on board when questioning Trust management.”