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PARKING SERVICES

MEDICAL PARKING PERMITS ARE CHANGING

We are proposing to make some important changes and improvements to the medical parking permit service in the early part of the new 2017 financial year. As a medical parking permit applicant/holder, we would like your feedback about our proposals.

Please read the following information and then complete the online questionnaire at http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/medicalparkingpermitsurvey by 4.30pm - 17th March 2017.

Why we provide Medical Parking permits Parking Services support a broad range of parking provision across Bath and North East Somerset to help meet the diverse needs of residents, visitors, private business and public organisations. As you will be aware, parking in the city is restricted given Bath is a historic Georgian city with limited and narrow streets.

We know that Medical/Healthcare and Care professionals provide essential community services and understand that some residents/patients require home visits to meet their health and personal care needs.

We offer medical parking permits for qualifying medical or caring professional applicants providing this essential service at people’s homes. Medical parking permits enable health and care provision workers to park in resident parking zones when visiting patients at home or when attending emergency calls. Why are we making changes We aim to provide the best customer experience possible and are committed to the continuous review and development of the services we provide. As part of any review of services, we consider arrangements in place to support effective compliance with parking requirements and restrictions so that we provide a fair and transparent service to all.

Following a review of medical parking permits, we want to introduce some changes to modernise the service we provide. The changes are designed to provide quicker and easier access to online services, promote fairness to all by harmonising costs with other permit types and help ensure permits are only used for the intended purpose of making visits to residents/patients homes.

Bath and North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit Medical Parking Permit – Proposed Changes

Proposal 1 - New online service for Medical Parking permits We propose to replace the existing traditional paper based application and renewal process with a new online medical parking permit portal. The proposed online service will be similar to the one currently used for resident parking permits and will be straightforward to register for and use.

You will be able to register for a medical parking permit account and access this at your convenience. You will have increased flexibility to manage your permit(s), set up and renew permits more quickly and eliminate problems with lost paper permits and delay in receiving replacements. You will also be able to contact our customer services helpline Monday to Friday 8am – 8pm and Saturdays 8am – 4pm.

An online medical permit account will enable you to:-  view current permit details

 make new applications

 renew existing permits

 make payments

 make immediate changes to permit details (for example to change the vehicle registration details linked to the permit)

 access information about permit usage

As part of the new service, ‘virtual permits’ will replace paper based permits for new applications and permit renewals, meaning no need to ‘display’ a permit. Vehicles will no longer be publicly identified as ‘medical/care provision’ vehicles when parked, helping to ensure privacy and security of any potential equipment/contents. Once an application has been approved, the virtual permit will be available for immediate use rather than waiting for permits by post.

Applicants will need to nominate a ‘primary’ vehicle and link this to the live permit by adding the relevant vehicle registration mark details. Whilst only the nominated vehicle will be able to use the permit, you will have the flexibility to add other vehicle registrations to the account and change the ‘nominated’ vehicle registration details to meet your own service needs. You may find this helpful to manage the number of permits you require and potentially reduce the number needed.

In order to use the permit when parking, the medical or care provision worker as driver will need to ‘activate’ their stay at the time they park to make the home visit. Drivers will be able to do this quickly and simply using a new mobile phone app free of charge or by text at the standard rate of your mobile phone provider.

Civil Enforcement Officers will check for valid permits by verifying the vehicle registration mark with our database records.

To help ensure a smooth transition, we propose that existing paper based permits will remain valid until their expiry date. (Paper permits will need to be displayed in the vehicle.) Proposal 2 – Virtual medical parking permits will be subject to a 2 hour time limit We propose to introduce a 2 hour time limit at any single parking location. The 2 hour time limit will commence when the driver ‘activates’ their stay (as mentioned in proposal 1).

The reason for proposing a time restriction is to improve the control of medical parking permits following concerns that permits are not always being used for the sole purpose of making visits to patients at home. We have undertaken monitoring exercises and found instances where permits are being used for commuter parking which is affecting local residents living close to local surgeries or other health/care based locations.

The terms and conditions of use make it clear that medical parking permits:-  must not be used for staff parking and cannot be used when attending to patients at a surgery/practice or when returning to a surgery/practice following a visit. Vehicles observed in close proximity to a surgery/practice to which the permit has been issued may be liable to a Penalty Charge Notice

 cannot be used for staff commuting

 are intended solely for the use of medical/carer staff making home visits or attending emergency calls

We propose that a 2 hour time restriction is sufficient time for the majority of medical and care related visits and deter the potential for commuter parking, ensuring fairness for all.

In the event that a visit takes longer and a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) is issued, we would encourage the owner of the vehicle to submit a ‘challenge’ at https://parking.bathnes.gov.uk/pages/home.aspx. The vehicle owner should provide information about the reasons for parking for longer than 2 hours and provide any supporting evidence available. The challenge would be given full consideration and a decision made to cancel the PCN where appropriate.

Proposal 3 - The cost for new medical parking permits purchased to increase to £100 per annum The current cost for a medical parking permit is currently £60 per year which is inconsistent with the £100 per year cost of GP and Resident zone parking permits.

We propose to increase the cost of medical parking permits to £100 per year. This will align charges with GP and resident parking permits contributing to the operational costs of the scheme and providing a fair and consistent approach. The additional flexibility of the proposed online medical permit service described above may assist you to manage the number of permits required and potentially reduce the number needed. If you have any questions regarding the proposals or questionnaire, please contact Jane Whiteman (Service Delivery and Compliance Officer), Telephone 01225 395368 or Ben Hallman (Business Support Team Leader), Telephone 01225 395249

We will give full consideration to your feedback before we finalise our proposals. We will then be back in touch to tell you more about the arrangements for implementation.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR TAKING PART IN THIS FEEDBACK QUESTIONAIRE