'Nobody should have to pay for being sick' - Readers' comments on an end to ERI parking charges

It looks likely that parking charges suspended during the pandemic will not return

Lorraine Blyth: The parking charges have always been exploitative. Many staff, patients and visitors have no choice but to use their cars to get the ERI.

Caroline Hood: Not before time. It’s a disgrace the staff have to pay to park and the charges for patients and visitors are ridiculous

Victoria Victoria: I will never ever forget nine years ago I was admitted but I drove up. I was in for two days and I couldn’t afford the charge. The nurses in the ward I was in all chipped in to pay my parking charge. I will forever be grateful to them.

Pat Christie: Great if you are actually lucky enough to find a space.

Sheila Wilson: Nobody should have to pay for being sick.

Jbrown JB: I was surprised when I learned that members of staff had to pay. Now, that it is going to be free to the public, let's not take advantage of this gesture and allow those who really need a parking space to have one.

Colin Moss: Labour and the Lib Dems will be unhappy about this. It was their crazy PFI scheme to build the hospital this way. At least now patients won't be charged insane amounts just to be there, or be visited. It’s a pity it would be too expensive to buy the hospital back into the NHS.

Marc McAulay: Finally! It always was over-priced and if you had a lengthy wait or overnight stay, the charges were awful.

Shelly Bee: Brilliant news. It’s shocking the amount staff in the hospital are charged for car parking and it’s not easy to use public transport for a lot of them who are working crazy hours along with getting kids to school, nursery and childminders in the mornings. Public transport sometimes wouldn’t get them to those places and be in time for work.

Liz Scanlin: Doctors and nurses should never have to pay and neither should people who have appointments. Far too expensive.

Graeme McLachlan: This is the good that the SNP government should be doing which helps everyone. Not trying to drum up another divisive referendum.

Graham Meighan: I’m all for that, although at present in the morning you have long queues of cars going into the car parks which can hold buses up for ten-15 minutes. How are they going to stop this happening all the time?

New role for Linda Bauld

Linda Bauld, Professor of Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, has been appointed as an adviser to the Scottish Government. Here’s what readers thought...

Lesley Anthony: Seems the sensible thing to do. Getting an expert in to advise on such an important area is just common sense and she is a brilliantly, clever scientist who is well respected in her area.

Sarah Clark: On the one had I think it’s good someone with her knowledge and experience is in that position but her skill over the last year has been to communicate that to the public and unfortunately there will be some people who would have listened when she was independent of politics but now will not listen for those same reasons.

Allan Smith: There goes any semblance of impartiality

Jane E Harrison Smith: A number of people seem to think that advisors to a government support that government’s politics. My husband advises the Scottish Government in his specialist field, and was chosen for his academic expertise, not his political stance. No specialist worthy of the name would compromise their status or ethics by having an agenda other than what the data decrees. A government may ignore the advice given, but those advising are generally at the top of their field.

Mary Bland Smith: The government purposely appoints advisers who will tell them what they want to hear. This makes both the government and the adviser look good.

Grant Aitken: Check all the armchair epidemiologists here who think they know more than someone who has been an expert in her field for 30 years.

'Nobody should have to pay for being sick' - Readers' comments on an end to ERI parking charges

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