COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Hospital bosses issued a handwringing apology for not announcing their extended car parking deal as they came under fire from Coventry’s health watchdog yesterday.



In July last year University Hospital decided to extend its deal with car park contractors ISS until 2018.

But hospital chairman Philip Townshend denied there was ever a conspiracy to hush up the vote.

He claimed the board simply never thought to make the deal public.

Despite promising lessons had been learned Mr Townshend and chief executive Andy Hardy faced heavy criticism from Coventry City Council’s health scrutiny board.

Mr Townshend told members: “I want to say I am sorry we didn’t contact you or the public generally.

“But did we conspire privately to keep the decision private? Absolutely not. There were no discussions about not making this public and no hidden emails.”

The contract with ISS does not just cover car parking. It also covers services such as security, catering and cleaning, which the hospital maintains provide value for money.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE OF THIS STORY

A Coventry MP will today meet the man in charge of the city’s University Hospital after they gave the company who set car parking charges there a new contract.



Geoffrey Robinson’s called the decision ‘disgraceful’ as it was made without a public consultation first.

At the moment the car park raises around £2.7 million a year – one of the highest amounts in the country – with a high-profile campaign to have charging abolished.

Mr Robinson said: “I can’t understand for a second how the hospital thought they could secretly sign a new contract for car parking charges without the public finding out.”

“But what’s more concerning is why a hospital would act in such a secretive manner and not be open and transparent from the outset, knowing what a contentious issue this has been, it’s a disgraceful and shameful way to act.”

“If the hospital and board members were so confident about the decision they took back in July last year to renew the car parking charge, then why didn’t they announce their decision at the time.?”

However, the NHS Trust say charges may fall if a planning application to open up a new entrance to ease traffic going in and out that would also mean 650 extra parking spots is approved.

Chief Executive Andy Hardy also said they have asked Warwick University students to review parking charges:

“We’ve commissioned a number of their International MBA students to look at the car parking requirements at the hospital, both in terms of numbers and the prices that would then result in us needing to charge to cover our costs – that is due to report by the end of March.”

“Car parking is an issue, we know it’s an issue, it’s an issue for our staff as well, so we’re getting some extra information in, looking to make an informed decision, and we’re looking to have that decision in a relatively short timescale now.”

A date is yet to be set to hear the plans for the second entrance and the extra parking spaces.

Mr Hardy has agreed to meet the MP for Coventry North-West at 3pm this afternoon.