Car parking charges at Blackpool Victoria Hospital will reintroduced next week

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said it will be reintroduced charges from Monday, November 30 at all its sites.

The Trust is amongst the last in the region to bring car parking charges back into play.

It made the decision to suspend car parking charges for all patients, visitors and staff at the end of March 2020.

A spokesman for the trust said: “It has been a pleasure to be able to provide free parking for patients and visitors over the last eight months. Unfortunately, Trusts are not funded to do this in the long-term, and there is an expectation that hospitals use the money raised from car parking charges to contribute towards funding patient care.

“The local Lancashire and Cumbria Integrated Care system (ICS) has therefore agreed that all Trusts within the region should reinstate these charges and are the last ICS to make this change.”

Despite this reintroduction of charges for patients and visitiors, the spokesman said that "for the foreseeable future", staff car parking at the Trust, for those with the relevant permits, will remain free of charge.