The BBC have an article about NHS trusts raising money through their car parks.
I assumed that the headline “Hospital car parks make millions” meant having a load of first year medical students out in the car parks with collection buckets, but apparently it is just through the mind-numbingly high-cost of parking.
Fair enough. They don’t want non-hospital uses to park there, so a small charge probably discourages frivolous use, and the revenue raised by just two car parks in Birmingham (£1.5 million) isn’t that great when you realise there are 553,000 people a year using them. That’s less than 3 quid each.
I had to re-read this repeatedly, though:
“Of the £1.5m revenue, £1m was pumped into the costs of running the car parks and a shuttle bus from the local train station, while the rest was invested back into patient care.”
*Blink* a million quid a year to run a bus and two car parks?
Good lord. A second hand coach with Air-con, TV and a fridge only costs 55 grand to buy. Just how much are their Car Park Attendants earning?
I’m hoping that this isn’t repeated by all other NHS trusts, but I’m doubtful somehow.
I’ve added a few more political links for those so inclined, they’ll randomly appear on the right.
March 28th, 2006
I’ve been a little puzzled over how Norman Kember has been pressured to thank publically those who rescued him from his 4 month long kidnapping.
Now my understanding is that the British Army are mandated to help, assist and protect British nationals. Even those who wander into a war zone under the belief that their self-righteous view that armed conflict is bad will protect them from armed conflict.
Personally my view is that anyone who heads into area which is still experiencing conflict based on relatively minor differences between followers of the same religion probably shouldn’t put much faith (sorry) in their own religion’s ability to protect them, or even defuse any problems.
If I were Mr Kember I’d now keep my head down (and be very grateful that it is still attached to my shoulders) and think about somehow explaining to his wife that the four months of daily dread of the words “Kember”, “body” and “found” being heard in the news were justified by his achieving nothing at all.
Then again, having read about a Christian church in Florida, I expect he can take care of himself.
March 27th, 2006
Ten years ago yesterday
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The entire
public enquiry is worth reading as it sheds light on Hamilton’s character but sadly shows that his although actions weren’t entirely predictable, the actual chain of events could have been prevented.
March 14th, 2006
