Preparations are taking place at Antrim Hospital and Causeway Hospital in Coleraine for a return to free car parking next year.
Hospital car parking charges in Northern Ireland are to be scrapped in May 2026 after the Hospital Parking Charges Act was passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2022.
A new traffic management system will be installed based on an automatic number plate recognition system which will become operational at both sites to enable the Northern Health and Social Care Trust to monitor car park usage and gather data in relation to how sites are being accessed although there will be no change to parking charges at present.
The Trust says this data will help plan for the “significant change of removing paid parking at Trust sites next year”.
Car parking charges at Antrim Hospital and Causeway Hospital in Coleraine cost patients and visitors £817k in 2022/23. Northern Trust staff based at Antrim and Causeway Hospitals are not charged for car parking.
The Northern Trust is anticipating an initial £1m cost of reversing charges which will be paid by the Department of Health. Income of £874k was expected in 2024/2025 and £953,475 in 2025/26. The lowest income in recent years was £330,000 during the Covid pandemic in 2020/21.
A report to Northern Trust board members previously said revenue generated from parking income is used to “recover all of the costs associated with the provision, management, maintenance and monitoring of hospital car parking spaces including barrier maintenance, pay machine maintenance, rates, resurfacing, re-lining, security, lighting, gritting etc”.
In 2018/19, hospital car parks in Northern Ireland raised approximately £7.5m from charges but incurred running costs of £8.8m. The sum of £7.9m was collected in 2019/20.
A regional working group has been established by the Department of Health. Fact-finding visits have taken place at Newcastle-upon-Tyne Royal Infirmary Hospital and Cardiff & Vale Hospital to “assess technology employed at UK locations with zero tariff policy” and the use of barrier control technology and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR).
It is anticipated all health and social care trusts in Northern Ireland will be operating the same arrangement aimed at having a consistent level of PCN (penalty charge notice) charging in place across all Trusts.
The report also noted the Northern Trust will require “significant upgrade” and extension of car parking infrastructure to comply with the Hospital Parking Charges Act.
Most hospital car parking charges were abolished in Wales in 2008 and Scotland in 2009.