Free parking at hospitals scrapped after just four days

WELL, four free days parking is better than none.

Visitors, employees and patients at South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen availed of free parking last Monday, thanks to a Stormont blunder, but by last Friday normal service had been resumed.

In 2022 the assembly passed a bill abolishing car parking charges at public hospitals in Northern Ireland.

But in March the health minister said that would need to be deferred for two years as hospitals were not ready.

New legislation was fast-tracked through the assembly to put this delay into law, however, its passage was not complete in time to stop charges being temporarily scrapped.

The error meant that for most of last week there were no charges at hospital car parks in the North.

Due to this, the Department of Health (DoH) asked for “cooperation and understanding” from all car park users as it may cause congestion at many hospital sites, leading to a disruption of appointments and other hospital services.

In a statement, the DoH said it apologised for any inconvenience caused during this period and then confirmed that normal arrangements for hospital car parking charges were to be reinstated from Friday (May 17).

“The Department is aware that patients and visitors at some hospital sites have experienced congestion and delays, as a result of free parking this week. We apologise for any inconvenience caused during this period,” the statement read.

“New legislation will be in place from tomorrow [Friday, May 17] which reinstates hospital car parking charges until 2026. This will allow the Department of Health and Trusts the necessary time to implement a traffic management system to control parking, preserve blue light routes and protect designated routes to facilitate free car parking across NI’s hospital sites.

“It was originally anticipated that the traffic management system would be in place by now, however unforeseen delays in the procurement process and subsequent legal challenges meant this was unfortunately not possible.

“Car parking permits for eligible healthcare staff will be provided free of charge throughout the two-year deferral period.”

Along with Northern Ireland’s health trusts, the Department is developing a traffic management system in order to facilitate free car parking from May 2026.

The new system is expected to control parking, preserve blue light routes and protect designated routes.