Free parking during Christmas bank holidays and parking fee increase for 2025

During the Christmas bank holidays (25 and 26 December and 1 January), there will be free parking for all visitors and staff at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT).

Public car parking fees will increase in the new year at the three main sites – Royal Cornwall Hospital, West Cornwall Hospital and St Michaels’s Hospital. Prices will increase by 5.8% from 00.01am on Monday 6 January 2025. This is the first increase since 2019 and has been kept lower than if it had increased annually in line with the consumer price index.

Free parking will still apply to blue badge holders across the RCHT sites and for those in receipt of certain benefits able to reclaim expenses under the national Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme. There are also concessionary rates for frequent and long-stay attenders. The price increase will be spent on further improvements to the car parks, this year significant work was carried out to create additional accessible parking spaces at Royal Cornwall Hospital.