Millions spent on a free hospital car parking scheme which may not go ahead

Millions of pounds have been spent on infrastructure to enable free car parking at Northern Ireland's hospitals but the law to enforce it may not go ahead as planned.

The Hospital Car Parking Charges Act was due to come into effect in May. It means staff will no longer be able to access the free car parking spaces allocated to patients and visitors.

However, the Department of Health is seeking to defer the move because of its significant budgetary pressures.

The BBC understands that the process to resolve the issue of staff parking permits at the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) site in Belfast remains on hold.

The BBC also understands the move could be delayed for another three years.

The new deferment period for the abolition of charges would not be beyond 12 May 2029, but could come into force before that if the Department of Health could afford to fund it.

The Southern Health Trust spent £1.1m on infrastructure, including 13 automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, while the Western Trust spent £750,000, including 70 cameras at its sites.

The South Eastern Health Trust spent £1m, including 50 ANPR cameras, while the Northern Trust spent £750,000, including 17 cameras. The Belfast Health Trust did not provide a figure.

The RVH site is regarded as the most challenging location to implement the free car parking legislation, and the issue has not been settled just weeks before the law was due to go ahead.

Belfast Health Trust said there had been a strategy group which included staff representatives and healthcare unions, but the difficulties at the RVH meant there was "a lot of uncertainty around the permit process".

The trust's Claire McMahon told Stormont's health committee that a strategy which had worked at Belfast City Hospital, could not be replicated at the Royal, where it was "very challenging".

She said there were more than 4,000 staff members who "would wish to drive their car and bring it to the Royal site".

"We are never going to have a solution that would meet everyone's needs - it would be less than half of that (staff parking permits) available," she said.

There are just under 20,000 car parking spaces at 16 healthcare sites across Northern Ireland.

Infrastructure to ensure the system is not abused has been installed at main hospital sites. Patients and visitors will have a maximum stay of 3.5 hours, with extensions available for valid reasons.

Millions of pounds have been spent by Northern Ireland's five health trusts at their main hospital sites on dozens of cameras which detect a vehicle's registration number.

The Department of Health said Minister Mike Nesbitt had "secured approval to proceed with legislation to defer the introduction of the Hospital Parking Charges Act".

"The Health Minister requested the deferral in the context of the severe HSC financial pressures and to ensure prioritisation of funding for frontline services," it said.

However, it is understood the cost saving would be in the region of £7.5m.

DUP MLA Diane Dodds told the BBC that there had been serious concerns about the cost of free hospital car parking to the health service.

"At a time when budgets are tight, at a time when we don't have all of the services that we need, then I think it's important that the minister reviews it and decides what he wants to do in relation to hospital car parking charges," she said.

"The health service itself has been doing an enormous amount of planning in relation to [the legislation]... but it is a matter of the cost to the health service of all that planning and the lost revenue, which is about £7m.

"If we had only £5m of that, we could have a 24/7 thrombectomy service (emergency stroke treatment) in Northern Ireland, which would save lives," said the DUP health spokesperson.