Patients on low income can park for free at hospitals

ON 1 November 2011 Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust’s car parking charges will increase but free parking will still be available for those on a low income.

The cost of short-term parking will increase by 10% and is the first rise for more than years. Charges for longer stays and concessions for regular visitors will remain the same. Blue-badge holders will also have to pay, however, all patients who receive government-funded benefits will continue to receive free parking.

The Trust will be increasing the number of disabled bays close to hospital entrances and introducing new measures that will increase car park safety for visitors and staff and put a stop to illegal and dangerous parking.

This will include using a parking management company to issue fixed penalty notices to motorists who park on pavements, double yellow lines, or block access to essential clinical services and emergency services such as ambulances and fire engines.

Once the cost of maintaining the car parks has been taken into account, any extra income generated has always been used for patient care and will continue to be used in this way. The changes to charging will fund the equivalent of 10 staff grade nurses each year.

The Trust also intends to increase charges for staff car parking.

Jonathan Parry, Chief Executive at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, said:- "We know that increasing car parking charges is unpopular but we must save £30 million over the next four years and maintain the quality of our care. We want to ensure that our patients on low income are protected from these changes. Patients who receive government-funded benefits will still be able to park for free at our sites."

Future changes to parking will be linked to the Consumer Price Index and be raised annually.

The Trust is actively discussing issues with the local authority around the park and ride on Foul Lane, Southport, and the possibility of having a route directly to the hospital. Patients and visitors are encouraged to use public transport where possible.

THE PIER HEAD TIME WARP

LIVERPOOL is a city on the move, and recent years have seen it re-emerge as an exciting and dynamic 21st century city.  Nowhere demonstrates this change more than on the waterfront, with the famous Pier Head becoming one of the places to witness new and old architecture, regenerated public spaces and fantastic cultural events.

Artists collective Re-Dock is asking people of all ages from across Merseyside to come to the Museum of Liverpool on Saturday 15 October to get involved with an interactive filmmaking experiment to document the life of the Pier Head on film.

Over the summer the area has experienced a great deal of activity, a lot of which has been seen through the gigantic windows of the new Museum of Liverpool, which is hosting the free event in The People’s Republic gallery offering fantastic views of the Pier Head.

The Pier Head Time Warp project aims to create a film that mixes old and new footage of the Pier Head together, to create a looping video mix that will take the audience on a journey through time.

If you have any old or new video footage of the Pier Head and would like to be involved in this collaborative video project, Re-Dock is inviting you to contribute this so that it can be used during this family friendly event to create a new film.

Whether you have footage or not, and would like to take the role of editor during this unique film experience, pop along to the Museum of Liverpool between 12 and 4pm on Saturday 15 October to try your hand, using simple software to create something very special that will be shown on gallery during the day.

How you can get involved:-

Re-Dock is looking for digital format clips of no longer than 3 minutes of video footage of the area around the Pier Head, which could be footage from this summer or from years ago.

Footage of the On the Waterfront events including the fantastic projections on the Royal Liver Building and the Museum of Liverpool, or of one of a number of cruise ships coming into port on the Mersey are just a couple of ideas for contributions.

The easiest way to contribute is to upload it to the project blog or you can bring your footage along on the day on a DVD or USB drive and Re-Dock will aim to include it in the project.

Please remember the Pier Head Time Warp can only use video footage if it belongs to you or you have permission to use it.