NEW parking charges at a health centre in Oxford have caused outrage.

Meters were installed in the car park at East Oxford Medical Centre without warning last week, prompting a backlash from disgruntled patients as well as staff at the facility.

However site owner Community Health Partnerships (CHP), which is owned by the Department of Health, said the changes had been brought in to benefit the centre’s users.

Oxford Mail:

Patients at the centre – which currently houses a number of health services including two GP practices, a dentist and the Oxford out-of-hours service – now face a charge of up to £3.50 for the maximum stay of three hours at car park to be run by Euro Car Parks.

One disgruntled patient who wished to remain anonymous blasted the lack of notice given to users.

They said: “It came completely out of the blue.

“Having just had a child it isn’t always easy to get to the surgery without having to drive so it is a pain.

“To have not been given any notice about the new charges is just outrageous.”

Staff at the centre, which opened in 2007, have been bearing the brunt of negative feedback over the new charges, but claim they were equally left in the dark over the move.

One staff member at the Cowley Road Medical Practice said: “The building’s leased to the NHS so the organisations in here didn’t actually have any say about it and we are suffering the backlash.

“We have a staff car park but there aren’t anywhere near enough spaces so we are really not happy about it either.”

It is understood the charges were brought in to deter non-users of the centre (particularly commuters) taking up spaces for long periods of the day.

A spokesperson for CHP, whose role is to generate funds to be invested in new healthcare facilities, said: “Due to the fact that patients having been finding it difficult to park, we have had to review the arrangements and found that free patient car parking has potentially exacerbated the problem.

“We have worked closely with the tenants within the building to find a solution that would ensure that patients have a greater ability to park when using the health centre.”

However, St Clements ward councillor on Oxford City Council, Jamila Azad said: “I’m not happy about it. “The centre is well used and patients should not have to pay for parking.

“They should use CCTV cameras or other means to ensure it is only patients who use the car park.”