Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether duty of care requirements is placed on NHS Trusts and their contracted car park operators to protect vulnerable patients, frequent outpatients, and grieving family members from enforcement action.

NHS organisations are locally responsible for their car parking provision including the technology used to deliver it, such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems.

This includes ensuring that any parking provision is suitable for their sites, and appropriate for all users, including those experiencing bereavement, severe stress, reduced mobility and medical fatigue. As a minimum, mandatory free parking should be available for:

• disabled people;
• frequent outpatient attenders;
• parents of sick children staying overnight; and
• staff working night shifts.

NHS trusts are also responsible for the actions of private parking contractors and should take appropriate action where patients, visitors or staff complain about those contractors.

Further information on NHS parking is available at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-parking-code-of-practice/private-parking-code-of-practice