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Kush Kanodia,
is leading a campaign, alongside Disability Rights UK, to scrap all
charges for accessible (Blue Badge) parking at hospitals across England.
This follows the decision by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS
Foundation Trust that holders of blue badges would no longer be allowed
free parking at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Kush is a patient
governor for this Foundation and has been trying to persuade the trust
for the last year not to introduce parking charges for patients with
blue badges.
Kush’s campaign has grown significantly since it’s initiation on 4th July and has had interest from several national newspapers.
Next Steps (direct from the Campaign):
The NHS in Scotland and Wales (2018) have already abolished all car parking charges from their hospitals!
We are now calling for an “Immediate Judicial Review” and for a Bill to
be passed in Parliament to enforce the Equality Act 2010 and protect
against any further discrimination against disabled people by the NHS
England!
- If your local NHS hospital or any NHS
hospitals where you receive treatment still charges for disabled
parking, then please write and complain to the hospital’s Patient Advice
and Liaison Service (PALS).
- Send a letter to your local MP (Member of
Parliament) supporting our campaign ASAP. If you are not sure who that
would be please check the following website: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/
- Social Media support: please like, tweet, share and sign up as one of the supporters of our campaign #NoWheelChairTax.
- We are approaching all stakeholder from
disabled people’s organisations to non-disabled people’s organisation to
support our campaign to help create a fairer, more ethical &
compassionate Britain.
- We are now working with all the political
parties to incorporate our campaign as part of their health policy. If
you know of anyone who can help to make this possible, we would love to
hear from you!
The NHS was founded on the principle of Free at the Point of Delivery and this principle must apply to us all!
Further information:
Timelines & Publications:
4th July 2019 – Our campaign was initiated by Kush Kanodia, a patient
Governor at Chelsea Westminster NHS Foundation Trust, at the Public
Board meeting of Chelsea Westminster NHS Foundation Trust after they announced their disgraceful decision to start charging for disabled parking at Chelsea Westminster Hospital.
8th July – The formal launch of our campaign was when Kush Kanodia was
appointed as the new Ambassador and Leader of the campaign with
Disability Rights UK (DR UK). DR UK is the largest pan-disability
charity in the UK that is disabled person led and we manage the
All-Party Parliamentary Group for Disability at the UK Parliament. https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2019/july/meet-kush-kanodia-mba-our-new-ambassador
10th July – Kush Kanodia attended the King's Fund Annual Leadership and
Management Summit titled “Compassionate and Inclusive Leadership” and
asked Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, the Secretary of State for Health and
Social Care, “What do we do when the people we trust to deliver our
healthcare fail to show compassion or inclusive leadership?” Mr Kanodia
requested support for the new campaign from Mr Hancock and Simon
Stevens, the CEO of NHS England. Kush received no response from either,
but he did receive round of applause from the whole audience at the
Kings Fund when he highlighted the purpose of the new campaign.
11th July – Disability News Service: Disabled governor’s anger over hospital’s parking charges sparks new campaign. https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/disabled-governors-anger-over-hospitals-parking-charges-sparks-new-campaign/
15th July – Daily Mail: Number of NHS hospitals charging disabled
patients for parking is RISING despite pledge from ministers to end the
rip-off. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7246813/Number-NHS-hospitals-charging-disabled-patients-parking-RISING.html
15th July – Telegraph: NHS hospitals increasingly charging disabled
patients to park, investigation finds as Health Secretary urged to act. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/14/nhs-hospitals-increasingly-charging-disabled-patients-park-investigation/
15th July – The Times: One in seven hospitals charges for disabled parking. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/one-in-seven-hospitals-charges-for-disabled-parking-hfrmdh69p
16th July – BBC London Radio: On Drivetime with Eddie Nestor who
interview’s Lucy Aliband a Trustee of Disability Right UK (Please skip
to 1:18:53). https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07fbfhd
18th July – Disability News Service: Hancock confronted over hospital parking charges for disabled patients. https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/hancock-confronted-over-hospital-parking-charges-for-disabled-patients/
25th July – At the Council of Governors’ meeting at Chelsea Westminster
NHS Foundation Trust, the Executive of the Trust announced their
decision is to now delay the implementation of charging for disabled
parking at Chelsea Westminster Hospital. The trust’s plan is to now set
up a Working Group going forward. Kush Kanodia has requested to be part
of this Working Group going forward due to his expertise on disability
and the NHS.
Key Facts:
2019 – Correlation between Disability and Poverty: The Social Metrics
Commission’s report confirms that disability is one of the strongest
predictors of being in poverty. Nearly half of all those living below
the breadline live in a household where someone is disabled.
https://socialmetricscommission.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SMC_measuring-poverty-201908_full-report.pdf
2019 - Disability comes with an extortionate and shocking price tag: One
in five disabled people incur extra costs of £583 per month, with
almost 25 per cent looking at more than £1000 extra. This price tag is
calculated after welfare payments designed to meet those costs have been
considered.
https://www.scope.org.uk/campaigns/extra-costs/disability-price-tag/
2019 - Disability Employment Gap: Only 51.5% of disabled people are in
work, compared with around 81.7% of non-disabled people. In 2017, the
government set a goal to see one million more disabled people in work in
the 10 years to 2027. The National Audit Office report in 2019 called
“Support disabled people to Work” concludes the Department of Work and
Penson’s has recognised that it does not understand enough to frame a
full implementation strategy to help more disabled people to work.
https://www.nao.org.uk/report/supporting-disabled-people-to-work/
2019 – Barriers to Work: The Greater London Authority tackling London’s
disability employment gap report in 2019 highlights that Disabled
Londoners of working age (16-64) are three times less likely to be in
work than non-disabled Londoners and identifies the following barriers:
- Just around half of all disabled Londoners are in work; about 1 in 10 are self-employed.
- Many disabled Londoners lack the higher-level qualifications necessary to access many of the jobs London creates.
- While there are many governments sponsored
schemes, a third of disabled Londoners were not aware of the schemes,
another third was aware but didn’t know how to access them.
https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/london-assembly/london-assembly-publications/tackling-londons-disability-employment-gap
2017 – Missed Opportunities and Failures: Progress towards real equality
for disabled people over the past twenty years is insufficient and
'littered with missed opportunities and failures,’ according to the
Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission following the
publication of ‘Being disabled in Britain: A journey less equal, a
comprehensive analysis on how the rights of disabled people are no
longer protected in Great Britain.
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/our-work/news/disability-progress-‘littered-missed-opportunities-and-failures’
2017 - Systematic violations of disabled people rights: Austerity
policies introduced into welfare and social care by the UK government
amount to “systematic violations” of the rights of people with
disabilities, a UN inquiry has concluded. The UK government is failing
to uphold disabled people’s rights across a range of areas from
education, work and housing to health, transport and social security, a
UN committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities inquiry has
concluded.
https://www.equallyours.org.uk/uncrpd-disability-report/
2017 - Health and social care spending cuts linked to 120,000 excess
deaths in England - The squeeze on public finances since 2010 is linked
to nearly 120,000 excess deaths in England, with the over 60s and care
home residents bearing the brunt, reveals the first study of its kind,
published in the online journal BMJ Open.
https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/health-and-social-care-spending-cuts-linked-to-120000-excess-deaths-in-england/
Current - Inaccessible Public Transport - Only 26% of all London Tube
stations are accessible (70 out of 270”. Disabled people often have no
other choice but must drive to hospital due to our inaccessible public
transport. NHS Trusts who charge for disabled parking in London can
therefore amount to Direct Discrimination against Disabled People, under
the Equality Act 2010, where disability is one of the protected
characteristics.
http://www.transportforall.org.uk/public/ug/
Campaign Team:
Kush Kanodia: Leader of the Campaign, Ambassador for Disability Rights
UK and Governor for Chelsea Westminster NHS Foundation Trust Hospital:
kushuk@gmail.com
Lucy Aliband: Director of Communications of the Campaign and Trustee for
Disability Rights UK: lucy.aliband@disabilityrightsuk.org
Kamran Mallick: CEO of Disability Rights UK (DR UK) - DR UK is the
largest pan-disability charity in the UK that is disabled person led and
manages the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Disability at the UK
Parliament.
Key Supporters:
Jonathan Ashworth: Labour’s shadow health and social care secretary,
said: “What an absolute disgrace. We need these car parking charges
binned. It’s time ministers intervened and sorted this out.” From News
Papers.
Lord Chris Homes: a Conservative Peer: “Well done to @ KushKanodia for drawing attention to this shocking problem: Number of NHS hospitals charging disabled parking is RISING!” Twitter. https://lordsdigitalchamber.co.uk/twitter/lord-holmes-of-richmond/
Sir John Vince Cable: Lucy Aliband on 29 July 2019 met with the former
Leader of the Liberal Democrats, who also now supports our campaign.
Camden Disability Action: “Shocking! We support #KushKanodia campaign
and urge other DPOs to join because disabled people are already too
stressed by cuts in social care and other benefits to continue to take
on this burden.” Twitter https://camdendisabilityaction.org.uk/
Campaign Bootcamp: “Kush calls for an immediate Judicial Review, a Bill
passed in Parliament to enforce the #EqualityAct2010 and abolishment of
disabled car parking charges in all NHS hospital in England.” Twitter https://campaignbootcamp.org/
Disability Rights UK: https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/
Global Disability Innovation Hub: https://www.disabilityinnovation.com/
Health Data Research UK: https://www.hdruk.ac.uk/
Camden Disability Action: https://camdendisabilityaction.org.uk/
AbilityNet: https://abilitynet.org.uk/
Kaleidoscope Investments: https://www.kaleidoscopeinvestments.com/
Museum of Happiness: https://www.museumofhappiness.org
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