A NHS Trust has denied making profit from staff and patients after increasing the cost to park on their Lincolnshire sites.
The United Lincolnshire Health Trust (ULHT) issued the response following a freedom of information request from the BBC asking about the money made from charging staff, patients and visitors to park.
Figures obtained showed that between 2014 and 2015, the trust made over £447,000 which then rose to £560,000 the following year – equating to over £1 million pound in profit within that time period.
It also follows on from Friday, December 1, where it was announced the cost to park per hour had been raised by 20p to £1.60.
However, in response to the BBC, ULHT denied making profit from staff and patients.
The Trust also said there prices were much lower than elsewhere in the county but added the increases were in line with national rates.
Paul Boocock, Director of Estates and Facilities at ULHT said: “The Trust does not make a profit from charging staff or patients to park their cars. The income from car parks covers the cost of providing the facilities at our hospitals, including maintenance and security, barriers and ticket machines, administration for car parks, capital investments, rates, lighting and CCTV.
“We endeavour to keep our charges as low as possible, however the cost of providing car parks increases year on year. In recent years we have subsidised car parking using other funds, but we cannot reasonably use money intended for patient care to maintain car parks. We have had to make the difficult choice to increase these charges rather than reducing services closer to direct patient care.”
