WHAT WE’RE ALL SAYING FIONA PARKER Park these unfair hospital charges THE ISSUE

NHS staff are being forced to pay up to £1,300 a year to park at or near the hospitals where they work, despite the fact they are struggling with crippling wage freezes and rising living costs. You say it’s outrageous...

The Department of Health says hospital trusts are to blame for the outrageous prices they charge medical staff to park at their place of work (Mirror, December 16). No, they aren’t, it’s the Tory Government that is to blame with their seven years of slashing NHS funding. Trusts have implemented these charges to try to replace the money the Tories have axed from NHS budgets. Jeremy Hunt keeps his job as Health Secretary because he is doing what the Tories want him to do – privatise the NHS bit by bit. In the private sector, Hunt would have been sacked years ago for the mess he is making of running the health service.

Mick Streets, Chesterfield, Derbys

It seems incredible to me that the Tories have not responded to the large public support for nurses whose pay has been capped at 1% for a very long time. Now, to add insult to injury, we learn that hard-pressed NHS staff are being forced to pay up to £1,300 a year on parking.

The Prime Minister said it would be a priority to help those just about managing, but once again she has failed to do the right thing. I predict there will be a massive swing to Labour just on this issue alone.

Howard Gardner

Sale, Cheshire

If Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt thinks charging staff to park at NHS hospitals is a “stealth tax”, maybe he ought to do something about it. It’s not difficult – he just needs to take action. In the short term, Hunt should be able to arrange for all staff to have free parking and in the long term, he must ensure there are enough car parking spaces for all NHS workers.

Geoff Willmetts,

Bridgwater, Somerset

It is a national disgrace that our wonderful nurses have to pay to park at work. They should be exempt from parking charges as they are already living on meagre wages with little hope of getting a decent pay rise while this Tory Government is in power.

It is time these exorbitant parking charges were scrapped and all health workers allowed to park free of charge.

Dave Mellor

Warrington Hospital parking charges need to be scrapped for everyone. I also think charging patients to watch TV should be stopped. You have elderly people paying £10 per day or more when they are in hospital for long periods of time.

This is just another symptom of what’s wrong with this country under the uncaring Tory Government. We must do everything we can to get rid of them.

Chris Maher, via Facebook

Our general hospital in Wales charges just £1 for six hours’ parking and the proceeds go direct to the hospital. The trouble is that people from outside the area working in the nearby town park there as a cheap option taking up vital spaces for visitors and outpatients.

Michael Elias, Carmarthen

My local hospital sold its car park to a Tory council member for £30,000. Some weeks later it was sold again for many times more. How many more similar examples have there been?

Frank Keys,

Northants