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A CANCER charity has called on all hospitals to adopt University Hospital Kerry’s parking policy.

The hospital has been congratulated by the Irish Cancer Society for its car parking scheme for cancer patients.

Unlike most of the hospitals around the country, University Hospital Kerry allows cancer patients going through treatment to park free of charge. The hospital is highlighted in the Irish Cancer Society’s ‘Park the Charges’ report as being a leader in good-practice for its car parking policy for cancer patients.

In other hospitals, cancer patients could be paying up to €63 a week in car parking charges. The Irish Cancer Society’s report highlights the financial burden of car parking on patients and their families. The charity says that the HSE needs to issue guidelines to hospitals so that all people undergoing cancer treatment receive free car parking. One cancer patient told the Irish Cancer Society that his family had spent €1,200 on car parking charges while he was in hospital.

Donal Buggy, Head of Services and Advocacy at the Irish Cancer Society, said: “Car parking charges represent a huge cost for many cancer patients, at a time of not just physical and psychological stress, but financial pressure. People undergoing treatment are facing real hardship in having to deal with additional costs and large drops in income, and high car parking charges only add to this. We have proposed a set of guidelines for hospitals to the HSE, that, if put in place, would make a big difference to cancer patients.”

Mr Buggy added: “Our ‘Park the Charges’ Report shows that people receiving treatment close to urban centres are facing the highest parking costs. This is a problem for cancer patients as many have to visit the eight designated cancer centres for individual cancer types in Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Galway and Limerick. The average cost of parking at these hospitals is €8 for a four hour stay.”

There were significant variations in cost by region, with Dublin hospitals proving the most expensive. On average a four hour stay in a Dublin hospital cost €8.86. Hospitals in Munster had the second highest costs for a four hour stay at €6.70, while costs were lower in Connaught/Ulster at €4.67 and in Leinster (excluding Dublin) at €5.20, respectively.

Mr. Buggy said: “We are asking the HSE to issue guidelines to hospitals, like those that exist in the UK and to extend free car parking for cancer patients, currently available at University Hospital Kerry, to all hospitals.”

According to figures provided by the Society, at the 26 public hospitals that offer cancer treatment, the revenue raised by car parking in 2015 totalled almost €14.5 million, with two hospitals taking in in excess of €1million, and another two hospitals taking in €1.5million and €2.9million respectively. Kerry GH raised almost €637,000 in revenue through car parking.

In a survey of car parking across the country, the Society found that a four-hour stay in one Dublin hospital costs patients €12.80, a charge Mr Buggy described as “exorbitant”.

The Irish Cancer Society currently runs a Volunteer Driver Service that provides transport for cancer patients to and from their hospital chemotherapy treatments, which currently operates at 21 different hospitals nationwide, including University Hospital Kerry.

Mr Buggy said: “This vital and unique service helps provide a lifeline to those without access to transport, who have to travel long distances to appointments and to those who simply cannot afford the cost of travel and car parking costs.”

In 2016 alone, the Volunteer Driver Service has provided 21,350 drives to 1,163 chemotherapy patients, covering over 1,000,000 kilometres. In Kerry, 524 drives totalling over 34,000km were covered by 33 Irish Cancer Society volunteer drivers.