Parking for staff, patients and visitors, sign at NHS, at Warrington hospital, Lovely Lane, Warrington, Cheshire, England, UK, WA5 1QG

Hospitals may charge for car parking in all NHS hospitals in England and Northern Ireland. Most hospital car parking charges were abolished in Wales in 2008 and Scotland in 2009. much more info on this at https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8912/CBP-8912.pdf Additional information on parking policy in England can be found in the Library briefings Blue badges and parking for disabled people in England and Parking policy in England. Section 1 details the temporary suspension of parking charges due to the Coronavirus outbreak across the UK. England The Health and Medicines Act 1988 allows the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to provide, and charge for, various services for the purpose of income generation for the NHS. The Department of Health’s guidance on Income generation in the NHS (2006) provides that income generation activities— of which charging for car parking is one— must be profitable and cannot use NHS funding to subsidise their costs. NHS England has issued non-mandatory guidance on NHS patient, visitor and staff car parking management (updated October 2015). This suggests concessions for the following groups: -disabled people -people who attend frequent outpatient appointments -visitors with relatives who are gravely ill -visitors to (and carers of) people who have an extended stay in hospital -carers of people in the above groups -staff working shifts when no public transport is available