The Wilhelmina Hospital Assen (WZA) will introduce paid parking. From May, visitors will have to pay if they want to park on the hospital grounds, which will cost 2.5 euro cents per minute. That amounts to 1.50 euros per hour.
“There are two reasons for implementing paid parking,” says WZA director Erwin van Santen. “First of all, it is due to the increased parking pressure that we see, for example, on rainy Tuesdays and Thursdays. These are generally our busiest days. Then you see that people cannot find a parking space.”
Hospital staff cannot use these parking spaces. Free parking has been available within walking distance of the hospital for them for many years.
According to Van Santen, the parking lot is often occupied by people whose destination is not the hospital. “We then see the same cars parked for a long time, for example belonging to train passengers or holidaymakers.”
The discussion about paid parking has a long history in the WZA, but the hospital could no longer ignore it. “I think we are one of the last hospitals to implement this measure.”
The second reason for introducing paid parking is financial. Van Santen explains that the Asser hospital, after the introduction of a new collective labor agreement, is heading for a new deficit of 1.5 million euros. In short, red numbers.
“The financial pressure on the hospital has increased, so we are looking at where we can make contributions or where we can save money. The introduction of paid parking is part of a broader package to alleviate the financial pressure,” said the director.
Van Santen hopes to be able to provide more clarity about when exactly paid parking will be introduced later. He understands visitors who are disappointed that paid parking is being introduced at the hospital.
“We are trying to alleviate the suffering because you will soon pay per minute and the first half hour of parking is free.” In addition, license plates are automatically scanned, so there is no need to purchase parking tickets.
It is still being investigated whether visitors who visit a patient for a long time in a row can receive a discount.