Hartlepool hospital trust bosses scrap parking fees for three groups

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Hospital Foundation Trust has announced that parking charges will no longer be applicable for Blue Badge holders, regular outpatients or the parents of children who need to stay in hospital overnight with their child with immediate effect.

In line with new government regulations, the trust has implemented the following new parking policies at all three of its sites, namely the University Hospital of Hartlepool, University Hospital of North Tees and Peterlee Community Hospital:

*Blue badge holders, attending hospital as a patient or visitor, simply should present their blue badge and registration details to the security teams who will register their vehicle as being able to park for free.

This registration will remain in place for the duration of the badge’s licensing period;

However, Blue Badges belong to the person not registered to a vehicle so if a Blue Badge holder attends hospital in a different vehicle, they would need to register that vehicle with the trust’s security team as well.

*Frequent outpatient attenders – those who attend hospital for an appointment at least three times within a month and for an overall period of at least three months - will also be provided with free parking.

Patients should ask for a form from the outpatients’ reception to register their details;

*Parents of sick children staying overnight can park for free between the hours of 7.30pm and 8am while visiting their child.

Children’s ward staff will be happy to provide parents with the forms.

Neil Atkinson, trust director of finance, said: “We’re happy to be able to offer these free parking options for our patients. It’s a helping hand from us to our patients.

“We know charges are never popular but all of our parking fees are reinvested into maintenance of the car parks and our front line services,” he added.

“We ask everyone parking to make sure they read all the signs properly and pay the correct fees. No one wants to receive a parking penalty notice while visiting our hospitals.”

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