Parking at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital will soon be free due to the coronavirus emergency, it has been confirmed.
The measures, which begin on Monday March 30, were announced today by health secretary Jeane Freeman after increasing public pressure.
She said: “We cannot have barriers to staff working in the NHS. Last week I said that I would act, if I could, to remove parking from those PFI car parks in our hospital settings.
“So from Monday car parking charges will be removed from Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for the next three months.”
Bosses at NHS Tayside, the Scottish Government, and the car park’s private operators SABA, had reportedly been engaged in lengthy discussions prior to the announcement.
SABA have a contract to run the facility until 2028 but the deal has been much-maligned and described as a tax on the sick by many.
Ninewells, alongside Edinburgh and Glasgow royal infirmaries, is one of only three Scottish hospitals locked into a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) arrangement.
It means the car parks are run by private companies who charge visitors and staff.
The two central belt hospitals will also be free for the same period.
Charges at other NHS car parks in Scotland were scrapped 12 years ago.
