NHS HEROES BETRAYED BY PARKING FEES
One in three hospitals bring back charges for their staff
A THIRD of hospitals have started charging NHS staff to park just to go to work.
Charges for medics come despite the Government telling hospitals to scrap them during the pandemic.
Of 212 trusts in England, 71 are raking in £5million from staff, says NHS Digital data for last year.
Some staff have reported paying thousands of pounds a year to park.
The GMB union’s Rachel Harrison said: “This is exploitation. These trusts are grabbing from the ravaged wages of hard-pressed staff who have endured real-terms pay cuts for years.
“Its continued practice represents yet another Boris Johnson broken promise.” In December 2019 the Tories were shamed into acting on parking fees after a Mirror campaign.
Until then the average hourly rate had risen 13% in five years to £1.35.
In July 2020, the PM told MPs: “Hospital car parks are free for NHS staff for this pandemic.
“We are going to get on with our manifesto commitment to make them free for patients who need them.”
Income from staff parking fell from around £90m in 2019/20 to £5m last year.
Sara Gorton, of the Unison union, said: “Everyone is exhausted covering for colleagues off poorly with the new [Covid] strain.” Some hospitals say charges are a part of binding private finance initiative contracts.
The husband of a woman who works at Hull’s hospitals hit out as admin workers and cleaners will have to fork out £100 a month for parking. Most frontline staff will avoid charges if they meet certain criteria. A Department of Health spokesman said: “Hospitals should not be charging NHS staff for parking during the pandemic. We are also delivering on our commitment to provide free parking to thousands more patients and visitors, including staff working night shifts.”