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Health Board issues clarification following row over hospital parking charges

HYWEL DDA UNIVERSITY HEALTH BOARD has put out a press release responding to criticism about its parking enforcement policy at Glangwili Hospital and at Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli.

In August 2019, a new parking enforcement system was implemented to protect parking spaces for both patients and visitors, according to officials.

This enforcement was in the form of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras and the introduction of a four hour stay limit for patients and visitors.

While this has improved parking availability for patients and visitors, the decision has been made to temporarily suspend the parking enforcement following feedback from staff until additional parking improvement schemes have been implemented.

Until these schemes are in place and show improved parking availability for staff, it has been confirmed:

Parking Charge Notices (PCNs) will only be issued to those parked inappropriately i.e. causing an obstruction or to cars parking in zero tolerance zones.
Patients and visitors who need to park for over four hours are asked to input their registration details into one of the validation terminals available across both hospitals. However, during this temporary suspension no PCNs will be issued to unregistered vehicles exceeding the four hour limit
Members of staff with a parking permit who need to park as a patient or visitor should when not on duty must request temporary access to use the public (blue) car parks by contacting the Central Transport Unit on 01267 229620 or use their permit to park in a staff (red) or mixed (purple) car park.

Steve Moore, Chief Executive of Hywel Dda University Health Board (UHB), said: “The decision to introduce parking enforcement at Glangwili and Prince Philip hospitals was in response to long running difficulties that our patients and visitors have experienced when attending appointments or visiting loved ones. However, the changes made did not have the impact we hoped for so we are having to consider other options.

“I want to reassure members of the public that this is a temporary measure and call on staff to do their very best to refrain from parking in public car parks when on duty while we scope parking improvement schemes as a priority.

“Our choices are limited but I am confident we can find some solutions. We are going to need the help of our staff, however, to make a real difference.

“I’d like to thank all members of staff who have met with me to discuss what these possible solutions could be. We know we did not get this right for staff and we need to work with you to make sure that the decision made improves the parking experience for both staff and visitors.”

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PCNs issued to staff parked in public car parks will be cancelled and refunds given. Please note this does not apply to PCNs issued to those parked in zero tolerance zones.

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