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Family forced to spend $8,000 on hospital parking fees visiting sick baby

Feb 19, 2019

The family have been forced to spend thousands visiting Daisy (right). Source: Channel 9/A Current Affair.

The family of a baby girl who was born 25 weeks premature have slammed Australia’s “outrageous” parking fees, after having to spend around $8,000 over the last year to visit her.

Little Daisy, who is about to turn one, has spent more than 359 days in hospital following her early birth and her family have been visiting constantly to spend time with her ever since she was born.

But, speaking on Channel 9’s A Current Affair, mum Lucy McGee-Stebbings revealed it’s come at a huge cost to the whole family as they’ve had to shell out thousands at different car parks while visiting.

“It’s pretty outrageous to accept,” she said on the show. “What this basically comes down to is big companies profiting off the sick and the vulnerable and their families.”

TONIGHT: $8000 a year – that's how much this family must fork out in hospital parking fees just to visit their sick daughter! #9ACA @EmilyGayton pic.twitter.com/p1ARpDnGtk

— A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) February 18, 2019

She added: “It would be one thing if the profits from the hospital car park went back into the hospital and were funding certain programs but they just simply go back into private companies, which are just there to make a giant profit out of people who are already suffering.”

The show’s team spoke to several other families across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane who are all calling for cheaper fees, and Chronic Illness Alliance CEO Dr Christine Walker even claimed the high prices could be compromising people’s health.

“We hear stories of people missing crucial appointments and we also hear stories of relatives not being able to afford to visit their loved ones while they’re in hospital,” she said.

She blamed government funding cuts for the problem but Health Minister Greg Hunt denied the claims, telling the show that the government has actually increased funding for hospitals.

He has since called on state governments to try to increase funding to lower parking fees and added: “This is a really outrageous assault on struggling families. It’s wrong… We’ve gone from $20billion, up to $24billion a year, and our funding growth has rapidly outstripped the amount by which the states are increasing.”