Here’s a list of NHS trusts which have put up hospital parking charges in past two years
A total of 37 NHS trusts increased car parking charges at some point in the two years to March 2024.
Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “NHS trusts – most of whom are under huge financial pressure – just couldn’t afford to maintain car parks without charging people to use them.
“The last thing trusts want to do is have to divert money away from patient services.
“City centre and urban hospital car parks where spaces are in great demand are a particular challenge.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said in a statement to PA: “Hospital car park charges are the responsibility of individual NHS trusts, however any charges must be reasonable and in line with the local area.
“Free parking is available for all NHS staff who work overnight.”
Here’s a list of the NHS trusts where the charges have increased, based on figures obtained by the Press Association following a Freedom of Information request. Not all trusts reported the figures in the same way.
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Charges were increased from 1 February 2023. Up to 20 minutes remained free, while stays of up to two hours, two to three hours, three to four hours and four to five hours all increased by 50p to £4.50, £5.50, £6.50 and £7.50 respectively.
Stays of five to six hours and the weekly rate remained the same.
Charges for stays of more than six hours increased by £1 to £10.
File pic: PA
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
Charges were increased from 1 February 2023. Up to 20 minutes remained free, with charges for up to two hours, two to three hours, three to four hours and four to five hours increasing by 50p to £4.50, £5.50, £6.50 and £7.50 respectively.
The day rate of more than six hours increased by £1 to £10. Tariffs for five to six hours remained the same (£8), as did the weekly rate (£25).
Barts Health NHS Trust
Tariffs were increased for patients and visitors during the period at Newham Hospital only.
Up to one hour was a new charge at £2.
Up to three hours increased by 70p to £3.70, while up to six hours increased by £1 to £7.
Charges for an eight-hour stay and up to 24 hours remained the same at £8 and £16.50 respectively.
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The trust increased prices on 1 July 2023. Stays of two hours, two to three hours and three to six hours all increased by 20p to £2.70, £3.20 and £4.20 respectively. Six to 24 hours increased by 30p to £6.30.
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
The trust increased primary care tariffs and charges at Ipswich Hospital in August 2022, followed by Colchester Hospital in January 2023.
Up to 30 minutes at both hospitals remained free, although charges for one, two and four hours increased by 20p, 30p and 50p respectively to £2.20, £3.30 and £4.50.
There was a £5.50 charge introduced for five hours and a £10 charge for 24 hours. The price of an eight-hour stay increased to £6.50 from £5.
However, a five-day pass was cheaper at £12, down from £15, while a seven-day pass was £4 cheaper at £14.
In primary care, one hour was free, with two hours costing 30p more at £3.30.
A stay of four hours increased by 50p to £4.50, eight hours was £1.50 more at £6.50 and 24 hours was £2 more at £12.
A five-day pass was £1 dearer at £16, although the price of a seven-day pass remained the same at £18.
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
Tariffs were increased from January 2024:
Up to one hour – Up by 20p to £2
One to two hours – Up by 20p to £3.60
Two to three hours – Up by 25p to £5.20
Three to four hours – Up by 35p to £7
Four to five hours – Up by 40p to £8.50
Five to six hours – Up by £1 to £10.2
Six to 12 hours – Up by £1.10 to £11.80
Twelve to 24 hours – Up by 85p to £18.30
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Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
In 2022/23, the trust increased charges for up to two hours from £3.30 to £3.50.
In 2023/24, the tariff for up to two hours increased to £3.80, while three to four hours went up from £5.50 to £6 and a four to five-hour stay increased from £6.50 to £7.
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Up to 20 minutes remained free, with the charge for up to one hour increased from £1.10 to £1.50 in 2023/24. Elsewhere:
One to two hours – up by 80p to £3
Two to three hours – up by £1.20 to £4.50
Three to four hours – up by £1.60 to £6
Four to five hours – up £2 to £7.50
Five to six hours – up £2.20 to £10
After 6pm, charges for up to two hours increased by 40p to £1.50, while more than two hours is £1 dearer at £3.
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
There was a change in durations and charges from 1 December 2022.
Up to 30 minutes remained free, while tariffs for up to one hour increased by 20p to £2.
The trust stopped charging on the half hour, instead charging on the hour. For example, there was no longer a £2.80 charge for one hour 30 minutes.
The tariff changed to one to two hours at a cost of £3. Elsewhere, the £10 eight-to-24-hour stay changed to 12 to 24 hours at a cost of £16.
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Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The trust increased its prices for visitors by 3.9%, which it said was in line with inflation.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
The trust increased the price of staff permits as well as tariffs for visitors.
The price of a standard £30 staff permit, for example, went up by 2.3% to £32.24.
Hourly charges were also increased across its sites, including Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s University Hospital.
London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust
Hourly tariffs were increased by a total of 2.6%, while concessions, including weekly passes, went up by 1.0%. There was no increase to charges for patients having chemotherapy.
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
Prices were increased from 2023. Up to 30 minutes remained free, with a charge of £2.50 introduced for 30 minutes to one hour.
Elsewhere, stays of two to four hours, four to six hours and six to eight hours previously cost £4, £6 and £8 respectively, but charges for stays of two to three hours (£4), three to four hours (£5), four to five hours (£6), five to six hours (£7) and six to seven hours (£8) were introduced.
The trust previously charged £10 for stays of eight to 10 hours. Now, a stay of seven to 10 hours costs £10, while 10 to 16 hours is £12 and 16 to 24 hours is £15.
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
The trust said it aligned its car parking tariffs for patients and visitors across all its hospital sites following the reinstatement of parking charges.
Medway NHS Foundation Trust
The trust increased charges for stays of up to two hours, two to three hours, three to four hours and four to five hours by 20p, 30p, 40p and 50p respectively to £2.20, £3.30, £4.40 and £5.50.
Stays of between five and 24 hours remained the same at £10.
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Charges did not increase for patients during the period.
However, the trust did change its staff charging structure, meaning some worker tariffs increased and others were reduced. Band seven staff and above were charged more for permits.
Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
According to its disclosure log, the trust increased tariffs.
The charge for 15 minutes to one hour went up by 10p to £2.80, a three-hour stay increased by 20p to £3.70, up to six hours went up by 20p to £5, up to eight hours increased by 20p to £5.50, while up to 24 hours increased by 40p to £11.
A weekly ticket is now £21, up from £20, and a lost ticket costs £11, up from £10.60.
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust
The trust increased the tariff at its long-stay car park at the University Hospital of North Tees from 1 December 2023. The rate had previously been £2 per 14 hours and was increased to £2.50 per 14 hours.
All other parking rates remained unchanged from 2022/23 to 2023/24.
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North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust
Tariffs increased by 20p per hourly session at Hinchingbrooke Hospital and Peterborough City Hospital, but charges were not increased at Stamford and Rutland Hospital.
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust
The trust increased tariffs for staff and patients during the period.
For the public, up to one hour went from £2.40 to £2.70, one to two hours increased from £3.90 to £4.40, two to four hours went up from £4.40 to £5 and more than four hours increased from £4.90 to £5.50.
Off-site barrier charges for staff increased from £8.50 to £9.60, while off-site non-barrier charges increased from £9.45 to £10.60. The charge for on-site barrier car parks went up from £25.50 to £28.40.
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The trust increased tariffs for patients and visitors at John Radcliffe Hospital, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and Churchill Hospital on 1 August 2023.
Up to 30 minutes remained free, although 30 minutes to one hour increased from £1.40 to £2.20.
A one to two-hour stay was 10p cheaper at £2.70, as well as a two to three-hour stay which went from £4.20 to £3.70.
Three to four hours increased from £5.60 to £6.20 and the cost for more than four hours went up by £1 to £8. Stays between 8pm and 8am were previously free but now cost £2.
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
According to the trust, staff are charged 1.25% when they park on site. It added that a 10% increase in 2023 “was based on the fact that the patient tariff had not been increased for four years” and therefore “10% was a fair increase based on inflation”.
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
The trust increased the costs of its staff permits and parking charges for visitors.
A multi-site pass and a pass for the Royal Free Hospital increased from £94.28 to £99.84 per month for full-time staff from 1 April 2023. Part-time staff are charged £49.82, up from £47.14.
Tariffs for off-peak and weekend parking also increased slightly.
The staff permit tariff at Barnet and Chase Farm hospitals is charged based on a percentage of salary.
These percentages increased from 0.84% to 0.89% for full-time staff and 0.42% to 0.45% for part-time staff at both sites.
For patients, hourly charges were increased across all three hospitals from 1 December 2023.
Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust
One hour £3.70 increased to £3.90
Two hours £4.70 increased to £4.90
Three hours £5.30 increased to £5.60
Four hours £5.80 increased to £6.10
Six hours £6.80 increased to £7.10
Twenty-four hours £9.80 increased to £10.30
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
Charges were increased by 4%.
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
Tariffs for patients and visitors increased on 15 January 2024.
Stays of up to two hours, two to three hours, three to six hours and six to 10 hours all increased by 50p each to £5, £6, £7, and £8 respectively.
Stays of between 10 and 24 hours increased from £6 to £13.
For staff, charges were reintroduced on 1 June 2023 and are banded by annual salary.
Those earning £23,000 or below pay 50p a day, while those on between £23,500 and £47,600 pay £1.25 a day. Workers on the highest salaries of £48,000 or above pay £1.80 a day.
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Tariffs were increased in October 2022. Up to 30 minutes is free, up from 15 minutes, although charges for up to one hour increased from £1.20 to £2.
One to two hours increased from £2.40 to £4, two to three hours increased from £3.60 to £6 and three to four hours increased from £4.80 to £8.
A standard tariff for four to five hours is £12, up from £6, but will cost patients £8. A standard charge is £18 for five to 24 hours, but is £8 for patients. Previously, the standard charge for five to six hours and six to 24 hours was £7.20.
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
Stays of less than 15 minutes remained free but there was a 20p increase for stays of up to one hour, one to two hours, two to three hours and four to five hours.
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
The trust changed its prices for patients and visitors from November 2023.
Up to 30 minutes – previously 20 minutes – was now free, with up to one hour costing £1.50. The price for two hours increased from £2.50 to £2.70, three hours was now £3.90, up from £3.50, and four hours cost £4.80, up from £4.50.
The price for stays of five hours and six hours remained the same. The charge for between seven and 24 hours was £15, with the £10.50 tariff for eight hours no longer available.
University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust
The trust upped charges for its short and long-stay car parks from September 2023.
At the short stay, up to one hour increased by 20p, stays of up to two and three hours increased by 40p to £4.90 and £5.90 respectively, while up to four hours increased by 50p to £7.
Stays of up to five hours increased from £7.50 to £8.10, and six hours went from £8.50 to £9.20.
Stays of between six and 12 hours increased by £1 to £14 and between 12 and 24 hours is now £17.30, up from £16.
At the long-stay sites, there was no change to the charge for seven days. Stays of 14 days increased from £38.50 to £41.60 and 30 days was now £59.40, up from £55.
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust
Up to 40 minutes was free, while up to two hours cost £3.50. The trust previously charged £1.80 for up to one hour and £3.40 for one to two hours.
A two to four hour stay was now £6, up 20p, while four to six hours increased by 20p to £7.30.
A six to eight-hour stay remained the same at £12 while eight to 24 hours went up by £1 to £16.
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust
Tariffs were increased at University Hospital in Coventry and Hospital of St Cross in Rugby.
At University Hospital up to 10 minutes remained free. Up to one hour increased by 40p to £3.60, two hours went from £4.40 to £5, three hours increased by 70p to £5.70 and four hours went up by 80p to £6.80.
Stays of five hours increased by £1.10 to £8.90, up to six hours is £11, up from £9.70 and a 24-hour stay increased from £11 to £12.50.
At Hospital of St Cross, up to 30 minutes remained free. Up to three hours increased by 30p to £2.30, while up to five hours increased from £4.80 to £5.50. The tariff for up to 24 hours was now £9.70, up from £8.50.
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
The price of a two-hour stay increased by 40p, while stays of three, four and six hours increased by 30p, 40p and 20p respectively. There was no change to prices for a 24-hour stay, although overnight – between 6pm and 7am – increased by £1.
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Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust
In 2023/34, the trust increased parking for up to one hour to £3.30 from £3.
One to two hours increased from £4 to £4.30, two to three hours increased from £4.50 to £4.80, three to four hours increased from £5 to £5.80, and four to five hours increased from £5.50 to £5.80.
There was no change to charges for 5-6 hours, 6-7 hours, 7-8 hours, 8-9 hours, 9-10 hours, 10-11 hours, 11-12 hours, 12-24 hours, or a weekly pass.
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
One hour – up by 30p to £3.30
Two hours – up by 40p to £4.40
Three hours – up by 50p to £5.50
Four hours – up by 60p to £6.60
Five hours – up by 65p to £7.15
Six hours – up by 75p to £8.25
Eight hours – up by 85p to £9.35
Twenty-four hours – up by 90p to £9.90
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust
Charges increased at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Leigh Infirmary and the Freckleton Street multi-storey in November 2022.
Drop-offs and up to 30 minutes remained free, stays of up to two hours increased by 30p to £3.30, two to four hours and four to 24 hours increased by 50p to £5.50 and £7 respectively.
Charges at Wrightington Hospital and the Thomas Linacre Centre also increased in November 2022.
Drop-offs at up to 30 minutes remained free, while stays of up to one hour and one to two hours increased by 30p each to £2 and £3.
Two to four hours and four to 24 hours increased by 50p each to £5.50 and £7.
York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The trust said charges were brought in line with nearby council car parks at its York, Scarborough and Bridlington sites as part of the installation of automatic number plate registrations in April 2023.
In York, up to one hour increased by 30p to £2.50, with a 60p increase for two hours (£5), a £1.10 increase for three hours (£7.50) and a 20p increase for four hours to £9. All-day passes increased by 10p to £10.
In Scarborough, one hour increased by 25p to £1.45, two hours increased by 40p to £2.90, three hours went from £3.50 to £4.35 and four hours increased from £4.50 to £5.80. An all-day pass increased by £1.20 to £7.20.
In Bridlington, stays of up to an hour were 20p cheaper at £1. Stays of two, three and four hours remained the same and an all-day pass was made 60p cheaper at £5.40.
With £99 a month to live off Aida has turned to a food bank.
“It’s very difficult. Extremely difficult. But I have to live,” says Aida Mascarenhas. The 75-year-old tells us £99 is all she has left after paying her bills. Aida’s accommodation is provided by the local authority.
“Ninety-nine pounds in a month – even for bedding, pillows or something. So many things for a house.”
At the food bank, Aida is called forward to collect handouts to get her through the week.
Aida Mascarenhas uses food banks, saying she has just £99 left every month after bills
Organisers are able to offer the basics like potatoes, pasta and spices
It’s three years since we last visited this food bank at the Marks Gate Community Hub in Romford, Essex, when the cost of living crisis was being described as the worst in a generation.
After three grinding years of making ends meet, the food bank organiser – and her clients – tell us things aren’t improving. In fact, they feel things have got even worse.
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“Overall the cost of living crisis has gone up considerably since three years ago. It’s worse,” says Asma Haq, founder of the Marks Gate Relief Project.
“For charities like us it was a storm anyway and now it’s a hurricane. We are busy non-stop.”
Asma Haq, founder of the Marks Gate Relief Project, thinks the cost of living crisis has worsened ‘considerably’
Asma is running around calling people forward – offering them basics like potatoes, pasta and spices.
She tells us some always come early, anxious the supplies will run out.
Next in line at the food bank is a woman dragging a large suitcase – pulling the zip back to shove in a large bottle of cooking oil and anything else the food bank will give her.
This woman at the food bank is looking for basic groceries to keep her going
Asma describes almost all the people who come to the hub as non-white British, first-generation migrants.
She says most have broken or no English with little to no computer skills and want help to access a changing benefits system.
“It’s also about so many other barriers they face. A lot aren’t tech-savvy. They used to get a lot of council tax support which has been reduced considerably.
We’ve had people literally put their phones in our faces and say ‘do it for us’.”
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The threads of why people say they’re struggling weave through all communities. Across the road from the community centre we talk to people who again and again tell us they feel the cost of living has been forgotten about.
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One woman tells us: “I don’t know how people are going to live. They keep putting it up and up and up. It’s everything. You’re worrying about the gas bill, the electric bill, the council bill.
“And I know people that’s desperate and they cannot pay their bills and they’re worried about ending up in court.”
The cost of living crisis is being felt by this woman in Romford: ‘You’re worrying about the gas bill, the electric bill, the council bill’
Continuing to retrace our steps from three years ago, we head back to Barking in east London and revisit a launderette where we meet a familiar face – Myriam Sinon who has worked in the business for the last 10 years.
I ask her if she imagined we would be standing here three years after we last met and things wouldn’t have improved.
“I didn’t expect that it would be worse,” she says.
Despite rising energy prices, this launderette in Barking has chosen not to increase prices
Myriam Sinon, who works at the launderette, says customers are finding ways to share the cost of cleaning clothes
Myriam says electricity prices have quadrupled in the past three years – but the launderette has not increased prices, fearing it would drive customers away.
Everyone needs to wash things and she says people are finding ways to share the cost – gathering up washing from people they know to create a maximum load for the machines.
People are hoping to see an end in sight. But Myriam has a stark prediction if things don’t improve.
“There will be crime every time,” she says. “When people don’t get enough money they start stealing. They might kill you for a watch or phone.”
The government will fund any further local inquiries into the grooming gangs scandal that are deemed necessary, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
However, the prime minister said it is his “strong belief” that the focus must be on implementing recommendations from the Alexis Jay national review before more investigations go ahead.
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It follows a row over whether Labour is still committed to the five local inquiries it promised in January, after safeguarding minister Jess Phillips failed to provide an update on them in a statement to parliament hours before it closed for recess on Tuesday.
Sir Keir Starmer joins police officers on patrol in Cambridgeshire. Pic: PA
Instead, Ms Phillips told MPs that local authorities will be able to access a £5m fund to support locally-led work on grooming gangs.
On Thursday morning, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper insisted the “victim-centred, locally-led inquiries” will still go ahead, while a Home Office source told Sky News more could take place in addition to the five.
Speaking to Sky News’ Rob Powell later on Thursday, Sir Keir confirmed that there could be more inquiries than those five but said the government must also “get on and implement the recommendations we’ve already got”.
The prime minister said: “Of course, if there’s further local inquiries that are needed then we will put some funding behind that, and they should happen.
“But I don’t think that simply saying we need more inquiries when we haven’t even acted on the ones that we’ve had is necessarily the only way forward.”
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Yvette Cooper speaks to Sky News
Ms Phillips’s earlier comments led to accusations that the government was diluting the importance of the local inquiries by giving councils choice over how to use the funds.
Sky News understands she was due to host a briefing with MPs this afternoon at 5pm – the second she had held in 24 hours – in an attempt to calm concern amongst her colleagues.
Review recommendations ‘sat on a shelf’
Sir Keir insisted he is not watering down his commitment for the five local enquiries, but said the Jay recommendations were “sitting on a shelf under the last government” and he is “equally committed” to them.
He added: “At the most important level, if there is evidence of grooming that is coming to light now, we need a criminal investigation. I want the police investigation because I want perpetrators in the dock and I want justice delivered.”
In October 2022, Professor Alexis Jay finished a seven-year national inquiry into the many ways children in England and Wales had been sexually abused, including grooming gangs.
Girls as young as 11 were groomed and raped across a number of towns and cities in England over a decade ago.
Prof Jay made 20 recommendations which haven’t been implemented yet, with Sir Keir saying on Thursday he will bring 17 of them forward.
However, the Tories and Reform UK want the government to fund a new national inquiry specifically into grooming gangs, demands for which first started last year after interventions by tech billionaire Elon Musk on his social media platform X.
Elon Musk has been critical of Labour’s response to grooming gangs and has called for a national inquiry. Pic: Reuters
‘Fuelling confusion’
Reform leader Nigel Farage said the statement made by Ms Phillips “was one of the most cowardly things I have ever seen” as he repeated calls for a fresh inquiry.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, also told Sky News that ministers were “fuelling confusion” and that the “mess.. could have been avoided if the government backed a full national inquiry – not this piecemeal alternative”.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the government needed to look at “state failings” and she would try and force a fresh vote on holding another national inquiry, which MPs voted down in January.
‘Political mess’
As well as facing criticism from the Opposition, there are signs of a backlash within Labour over how the issue has been handled.
Labour MPs angry with government decision grooming gangs
With about an hour until the House of Commons rose for Easter recess, the government announced it was taking a more “flexible” approach to the local grooming gang inquiries.
Safeguarding minister Jess Philips argued this was based on experience from certain affected areas, and that the government is funding new police investigations to re-open historic cases.
Speaking on Times Radio, former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Sir Trevor Phillips called the move “utterly shameful” and claimed it was a political decision.
One Labour MP told Sky News: “Some people are very angry. I despair. I don’t disagree with many of our decisions but we just play to Reform – someone somewhere needs sacking.”
The government has insisted party political misinformation was fanning the flames of frustration in Labour.
The government also said it was not watering down the inquiries and was actually increasing the action being taken.
But while many Labour MPs have one eye on Reform in the rearview mirror, any accusations of being soft on grooming gangs only provides political ammunition to their adversaries.
One Labour MP told Sky News the issue had turned into a “political mess” and that they were being called “grooming sympathisers”.
On the update from Ms Phillips on Tuesday, they said it might have been the “right thing to do” but that it was “horrible politically”.
“We are all getting so much abuse. It’s just political naivety in the extreme.”
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‘We will leave no stone unturned’
Ms Phillips later defended her decision, saying there was “far too much party political misinformation about the action that is being taken when everyone should be trying to support victims and survivors”.
“We are funding new police investigations to re-open historical cases, providing national support for locally led inquiries and action, and Louise Casey… is currently reviewing the nature, scale and ethnicity of grooming gangs offending across the country,” she said.
“We will not hesitate to go further, unlike the previous government, who showed no interest in this issue over 14 years and did nothing to progress the recommendations from the seven-year national inquiry when they had the chance.
“We will leave no stone unturned in pursuit of justice for victims and will be unrelenting in our crackdown on sick predators and perpetrators who prey on vulnerable children.”
Prince Harry has visited war victims in Ukraine as part of his work with wounded veterans, a spokesperson has said.
The Duke of Sussex was in central London this week for a Court of Appeal hearing over his security arrangements in the UK.
The visit on Thursday to Lviv in western Ukraine, which has frequently been targeted with Russian missiles, was not announced until after he was out of the country.
Prince Harry visits Superhumans Center in Lviv. Pic: Superhumans Center
Harry, who served 10 years in the British Army, visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopaedic clinic in Lviv that treats and rehabilitates wounded military personnel and civilians.
The prince, 40, was accompanied by a contingent from his Invictus Games Foundation, including four veterans who have been through similar rehabilitation experiences.
Harry at the rehabilitation centre in Lviv on Thursday. Pic: Superhumans Center
A spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex said Harry had been invited by the centre’s CEO, Olga Rudneva, a year ago, and at the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025, which took place in February.
Harry travelled to the centre, which offers prosthetics, reconstructive surgery and psychological help free of charge, to see first-hand the support they provide at an active time of war.
Prince Harry made an unannounced visit to Ukraine. Pic: Superhumans Center
The duke, who served two tours in Afghanistan, met patients and medical professionals while touring the centre, the spokesperson said.
During his trip to Ukraine, he also met members of the Ukrainian Invictus community, as well as Ukraine’s minister of veterans affairs, Natalia Kalmykova.
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The Duke of Sussex was in London earlier this week.
Pic: PA
Helping wounded soldiers has been one of Harry’s most prominent causes, as he founded the Invictus Games in 2014 to offer wounded veterans the challenge of competing in sports events similar to the Paralympics.
Harry is the second member of the royal family to visit Ukraine since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour in February 2022.
His aunt, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, made an unannounced visit to Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv last year.
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