Peter Lazenby
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HOSPITAL staff in England paid about £70.5 million to park at work in 2023-24, research by general union GMB has revealed.
And some hospital trusts have increased parking charges on both staff and patients in the last 12 months.
GMB and public-sector union Unison are campaigning for an end to charges on hospital staff for parking at work.
In Scotland free car parking for staff and patients was introduced in 2008.
The scandal of NHS trusts making vital hospital staff pay to park at work came to a head when the coronavirus pandemic hit Britain in 2020.
After a public outcry, the charges on staff were suspended — but were reimposed when the pandemic receded in 2022.
New research using Freedom of Information requests has now shown that 37 hospital trusts — 25 per cent of the 147 in England — said they had raised the price of parking at some point between April 2022 and March 2024.
Sixty-five trusts — 44 per cent of the 147 in England — said there had been no increases during the two-year period.
Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association which supports patients and their families, said that charges “unfairly penalise” unwell people.
She said that the cost-of-living crisis “is already pushing many households to the brink.”
“With car parking charges increasing again this year at many NHS hospital sites, patients and their families are facing an even greater financial strain,” she said.
GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said that NHS workers had “suffered rocketing workloads, chronic understaffing and the fallout from a global pandemic.
“Health workers are on their knees — they need help and support. Charging them to park is kicking them while they are down.
“GMB calls on the government and NHS employers to do the right thing and scrap staff car parking charges.”
Public-sector union Unison is campaigning for abolition of car parking charges on hospital staff through the union’s NHS Parking Charter.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Hospital car park charges are the responsibility of individual NHS trusts, however any charges must be reasonable and in line with the local area.”
