Hospital staff face huge rise in car parking bills

Nurses and doctors at Cannock Chase Hospital are being forced to pay huge increases in staff parking charges, it emerged today.

Bills for consultants have risen 576 per cent while fees for nurses are up 350 per cent.

Low-grade workers such as porters have seen their daily outlay more than double.A flat rate charge of £4.16 a month has been scrapped and replaced with a staggered payment scale linked to staff pay grades, with the highest earners forking out most for the right to park at work.

Following a review of charges at Stafford and Cannock Chase hospitals, porters must pay £9.38 a month while low-grade nurses face monthly fees of £14.06.

Charges for higher grade nurses and junior doctors are £18.75 a month – an annual bill of £225, up from £49.92 – while consultants must find £28.13, or £337.56 a year. Middle grade doctors pay £23.44 a month.

The rises range from 125 per cent to 576 per cent.

Part-time staff, those working fewer than 23 hours a week, will receive a 50 per cent discount on all rates. They used to pay a flat rate of £2.08 a month.

Finance director Darren Cattell said the increases were part of a package to ease financial pressure on Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

He said: "The scale of monthly charges is graduated so that those who earn more will pay more each month. The aim is not only to raise money, but also to encourage more staff to find alternatives to driving."

He said there would be better bike sheds and motorcycle parking and the possibility of a new park and ride or car share scheme.

Today one nurse branded the changes "diabolical", adding: "A lot of us just can't afford it."

Health bosses need to claw back £200,000 each month up to the end of March, on top of £100,000 a month savings they are already making,