Finally heard from the trust

Sadly the response does not answer any of the points raised in an open letter published on this page and in The Surrey Advertiser. The statement emailed is the same one they keep putting out but I will share with you Dear Caroline   We have had some problems posting a response onto the petition as the petitionee, and absolutely want to publish a response;  this is the response that Aileen and Suzanne wish to post:   “We absolutely understand that parking charges at hospitals is a contentious issue.  However, the financial climate we now find ourselves in has become significantly more challenging and increasing our parking charges is one of a number of measures we are introducing across our hospitals to support our savings plans and ensure that our central funding is focused on the delivery of patient care.  It’s really important to stress that any patient or visitor, abled bodied or otherwise, who is entitled to have their parking costs reimbursed will continue to receive free parking as they do now.  This means our parking charges will be based on affordability for all patients and visitors including blue badge holders.    We have committed to looking at how we can improve arrangements for our patients and visitors to claim free parking if they are eligible and to make sure this is well publicised and made clearer across our hospitals. We also want to work with local patient groups, our Disability Group in particular, to improve the overall experience of those using our car parks.   Introducing this new charging structure is not a decision our Board has taken lightly but we have to do everything we possibly can to make sure we can continue to run high quality, safe services for the patients we serve.  The Trust also has a range of parking concessions for people visiting on a frequent basis (for example patients receiving cancer treatment, cardiac rehabilitation and parents of young babies in our neonatal intensive care unit).”   We will also post onto our website so I can link to the statement from Twitter but I can’t do that remotely.  We’ll do that as soon as we can tomorrow morning.   With best wishes,   Giselle