Outcry over clamp for carers
Boris won’t budge on car park charges at hospitals
MINISTERS have been accused of going from clapping for carers to clamping them after scrapping free hospital parking for NHS staff.
Healthcare workers and other social care employees have been exempt from the charges since March, but the Government has confirmed they will be reintroduced.
Boris Johnson yesterday refused to back down on the decision. When pressed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in the Commons, the Prime Minister told him to ‘take his latest bandwagon and park it free somewhere else’.
The Royal College of Physicians said the charges would be a ‘blow’ to staff morale, while Unison claimed frontline workers would once again be punished for parking at work.
The end of the free parking was revealed in a written parliamentary answer by health minister Lord Argar in response to questions by Labour MPs Zarah Sultana and Rachael Maskell.
Mr Argar said this ‘support cannot continue indefinitely’, adding that the Government would be ‘considering how long free parking for National Health Service staff will need to continue’.
Hospital parking has long been a contentious issue for healthcare workers and patients, with NHS trusts making £254 million from the fees last year.
Labour health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth said the Government had gone from ‘clapping for carers to clamping carers’, adding: ‘Labour will always stand up for our hardworking NHS and care staff.’
Professor Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: ‘To remove these incentives now is to almost imply that the Covid-19 pandemic is over and is a blow to morale for many staff. We are far from out of the woods yet. The very least NHS staff should expect while they work every day to save people’s lives, is to not have to deal with parking fines.’ Sara Gorton, of Unison, which represents nearly 500,000 NHS employees, said: ‘Nurses, cleaners and other health workers shouldn’t be punished for simply parking at work so they can save lives and care for patients. The virus problems are far from going away and when this is over, the Government should fund trusts properly so they can scrap staff charges for good.’ In Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said the reintroduction of the fees would cost ‘hundreds of pounds a month for our nurses, our doctors and our support staff’.
‘We owe our NHS workers so much. We all clap for them, we should be rewarding them, not making it more expensive to go to work. The Prime Minister must know this is wrong, will he reconsider and rule it out?’
Mr Johnson replied: ‘The hospital car parks are free for NHS staff for this pandemic, they’re free now, and we’re going to get on with our manifesto commitment to make them free for patients who need them as well. The House will know that was never the case under Labour – neither for staff nor patients.’
A Department of Health spokesman confirmed that only certain patients and staff would be exempt from the fees.
The spokesman added: ‘When the pandemic begins to ease, the NHS will continue to provide free hospital car parking to key patient groups and NHS staff in certain circumstances.’
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‘Punished for simply parking at work’