I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the Final Stage of the Hospital Parking Charges Bill 2024. I will make some brief remarks on behalf of the Committee before speaking as Sinn Féin health spokesperson.

The Bill has been through the accelerated passage process, and I highlight that the Committee is disappointed that the Bill is required. The Committee understands why the Department needs time to bring the necessary systems into place to ensure that those who need access to hospital car parking spaces can access them. However, it is disappointing that, even now, we hear real-life experiences of people missing important appointments as they are stuck in a line, waiting to get into a car park.

Recent figures that the Committee received from the trusts outline that people can wait for over 90 minutes in a queue to get access to car parking. That shows that more work needs to be done by the trusts and the Department to improve parking capacity at congested sites. We look forward to seeing future plans and proposals to increase capacity and provide additional public transport and park-and-ride facilities to take pressure off those sites.

As I mentioned at Second Stage, the previous Health Committee undertook the Committee Stage of the Hospital Parking Charges Bill. The issues that were raised during evidence in 2022 are as relevant today as they were over two years ago. Those issues include inequity in charging within and across trusts, financial issues for staff having to pay for parking and inconsistencies in the approach to providing free parking to patients and their families. We still hear of staff having to pay around £11 per day to access safe parking at Belfast City Hospital. Some of them are the lowest-paid staff who work difficult shift patterns and have no easy access to public transport.

During discussions with the Minister and the Department, the Committee received assurances that the permit scheme for staff was being redeveloped with new criteria. It would be good to receive an update on that today and confirmation of when that process will be completed across all the trust sites. The Committee is also keen to ensure that the patients and families who are entitled to free parking are provided with parking passes. We encourage all trusts to ensure that eligible patients and families are made aware of and provided with passes at the earliest opportunity.

The Committee heard about the difficulties that there have been in appointing the contractor to deliver the traffic management scheme. It is welcome that that is now moving forward; the Minister stated that a contractor is now in place. The Committee has written to the Department to get updates on the progress of the scheme every two months. The Committee will seek to ensure that free parking at hospitals is brought forward as soon as practicable and that we are not in the position in two years' time of having to come back to seek further extensions.

I thank the Minister, his departmental officials and officials from the trusts for their engagement with the Committee before the introduction of the Bill. I hope that we continue to work collectively to improve the services that are provided to people in our communities.

I now speak as Sinn Féin health spokesperson. At each stage of the Bill, we have repeatedly emphasised the need for the legislation to be implemented as soon as possible. I reiterate my disappointment that it has not been completed in the time frame agreed in 2022. We must now ensure that there are no further delays. I welcome the Minister's update today about the contract having been awarded, but, as I mentioned, we will monitor the progress of the implementation of the scheme very closely. It is essential that a serious effort is made to deliver the work fully so that we can fulfil the Assembly's promise to the hard-working staff in our hospitals and to patients and their families, who continue to feel the financial burden daily, particularly as they deal with the impacts of a cost-of-living crisis.

We have highlighted on numerous occasions the serious workforce issues facing our heath service. Making it more difficult for people to afford to come to work is not exactly an incentive in attracting or retaining staff. We must do better. I look forward to seeing real progress on the removal of hospital car parking charges well in advance of the two-year deadline.