NHS staff paying for parking at Birmingham hospitals during coronavirus pandemic

Les Young, an advance nurse practitioner who works in primary care, says that some staff are having to fork out between £100 and £150 a month just to have a place to park during work.

And he has joined the Royal College of Nursing in calling on the government to scrap the charge, adding that the policy could be dangerous if not rectified.

It has been revealed that staff working at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB), Heartlands Hospital, Good Hope and Solihull hospitals are still paying a daily charge to park at work.

Hospital parking charges have been the subject of much controversy in recent years, with the government announcing late last year that charges were due to be scrapped as of April 2020.

However this has still not come into effect, meaning thousands of healthcare workers are having to shell out to park at their workplace.

Les used to work at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, but now works in primary care off the front line. And he believes it is ‘mad’ that staff are still being charged to park at work, especially given the current job they are undertaking.

He said: “This isn’t something that’s affecting me, because at my place of work I get free parking. But one of my colleagues, her and her husband both work in the NHS, and they’re paying between £4 and £11 a day, just to go in and be on the front line.

“It’s ridiculous, and that’s what’s so frustrating. And it’s not just the Birmingham hospitals, it’s across the country.

“So let’s say, between £4 and £11, meet in the middle and say £7. That’s £35 a week, and between £100 and £150 a month. And it soon adds up. And bearing in mind these are people who are struggling to get to the shops, some of them are pulling 12-hour shifts. It just seems something that’s a bit mad to me.

“The fact of the matter is it’s criminal anyway. The staff have to pay extortionate prices to park. When I worked at QE I just hated it – I used to park half a mile away and walk in.

“It just seems mad, especially now that you’ve got nurses and others down with coronavirus. And these are the people paying fees to work. I know the government’s got a lot to think about, but it’s just a little thing, I think, would help."

And his was a point supported by Mike Adams, director of the Royal College of Nursing for England, who says that a scrapping of the charges would be ‘a goodwill gesture’ to all the hardworking healthcare staff from around the country.

He said: “Health care staff at hospitals in Birmingham are working tirelessly to fight this pandemic.

“We believe it would be a sensible and proportionate measure to waive parking charges for staff working in hospitals in these exceptional times, including those planning on coming back to work in the NHS to help deal with the crisis.

“Between the reduction of public transport services and the high risk of transmission on these services, staff will feel safer driving into work. Staff travelling to work to treat patients at this stressful time should not have to face the extra worry of high cost parking charges for them to protect and save lives.

“It would be a welcome gesture of support and goodwill for the health care staff’s dedication to duty. They are working above and beyond around the clock to care for patients and support their colleagues.”

Responding to enquiries regarding parking charges at their hospitals, a spokesperson for University Hospitals Birmingham said: “The trust is currently looking at how it manages car parking fairly across all of our sites during the current situation.

“Staff are advised to check the internal communications for updates.”