The next
Labour government will make parking at NHS England hospitals free for patients,
visitors and NHS staff. Labour created the NHS to be free at the point of use,
so the next Labour government will eradicate the hidden charges of car parking
fees.
Labour
will increase the rate of Insurance Premium Tax to 20% for private healthcare
insurance products to fund the policy, replacing the £162 million England’s
underfunded hospitals currently raise from car parking charges by scrapping the
subsidy for people that can afford it, rather than charging people who can’t.
Last
month, a Freedom of Information request by Unison revealed some hospitals are
charging staff, including nurses struggling with low wages, nearly £100 a month
to park, resulting in reports of nurses having to rush out in between
appointments to move their cars and avoid fines.
All
of Labour’s new spending commitments are fully costed and transparent. This
policy will be paid for by a new charge on private healthcare insurance.
Announcing
the policy, Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:
“Labour
will end hospital parking charges, which place an unfair and unnecessary burden
on families, patients and NHS staff. Hospital parking charges are a tax on
serious illnesses.
“Our
hospitals are struggling from under-funding at the hands of Theresa May’s
Conservative government, but the gap should not be filled by charging sick
patients, anxious relatives and already hard-pressed NHS staff for an essential
service.
“Our NHS
needs a Labour government that will stand up for the many, not the few.”
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