An overnight 45% increase in car parking charges at the Ulster Hospital has been described as an “unconscionable” money grab from staff and patients, an MLA has said.
Users of the car parks at the hospital noticed an increase to £6.50 per day from £4.50 last week, including staff who have said they received no notification of the hike.
In 2022 the Stormont Assembly passed a bill abolishing car parking charges at public hospitals in Northern Ireland.
However, in March the Department of Health said that would need to be deferred for two years as hospitals were not ready to introduce new technology to offer free parking.
Strangford DUP MLA Michelle McIlveen said the decision from the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust will place an additional burden on already-stretched healthcare staff.
“Staff members I have spoken to advise me that they received no notification of this massive increase,” Ms McIlveen said.
“This is an additional burden on patients and visitors to the hospital and follows on from the Health Minister suspending the legislation to give free car parking at hospital sites.”
A spokesperson for the South Eastern Trust said it had not increased car parking fees for 10 years and that costs had “increased considerably” in that time. It added that a limited number of staff avail of a permit for free parking, while it had introduced a regular free shuttle bus for other staff.
“The South Eastern Trust has reviewed its public car parking pricing structure and introduced free parking for the first 30 minutes at the Ulster Hospital, to facilitate short stay visits, drop off and collections,” a statement said.
“We would encourage anyone using our car parks to leave as soon as they can, so that other people can use the spaces provided. This would also help reduce car parking queues.
“The Trust is working at pace to introduce ANPR technology to enable free car parking for everyone by May 2026, in line with the Hospital Parking Charges Act 24.”
