InYourArea News
Cambs NHS hospital staff paid nearly £3 million to park at work pre-Covid
There have been calls to scrap charging staff for parking
Pictured above: Addenbrooke's Hospital. (Credit: Phil Harris).
By Claire Miller
Staff at Cambridgeshire hospitals paid nearly £3 million pounds to park at work in the year before the pandemic.
Parking tickets, permits and fines for staff brought in £2.7 million at hospital trusts covering Cambridgeshire in the year to March 2020.
That was a 10 per cent increase compared to the £2.4 million paid in 2018/19, according to figures from NHS Digital.
On top of this, patients and visitors paid £1.5 million to park last year - leaving a £3.1 million profit after the £1.1 million cost of parking services across all the trusts.
This will be higher as Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust has not included its income from patient parking.
In March 2020, the UK government announced financial support for all trusts to provide free car parking for staff during the coronavirus outbreak, while councils were encouraged to also provide free spaces.
At Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Addenbrooke's Hospital, car parking charges have been paused.
A trust spokesperson said: "Parking on site has been free to staff since the beginning of the pandemic and remains so in recognition of the incredible work they are doing 24/7 to look after our patients.
"The public can help by following government advice and taking note of the hands, face, space messaging."
Though the pause is ongoing at Addenbrooke's, a union has claimed some trusts are charging for parking again.
Post-pandemic plans would require fewer people to pay for parking, but staff on some shift patterns could still be charged.
North West Anglia NHS Trust, which runs Hinchingbrooke, Stamford, and Peterborough hospitals, saw the biggest income from parking charges - £1.5 million from patients and visitors, and £1.4 million from staff.
It costs an average of 86p per hour for patients and visitors to park at Peterborough City Hospital - the most expensive in the region.
Staff paid an average of 23p an hour at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, while they pay 25p per hour at Addenbrooke's - the most expensive charges locally.
That was a 2p per hour increase compared to 2018/19.
Staff are more likely to have parking permits - so, for example, if they are paying £2.40 a day, that would equate to 10p per hour.
Addenbrooke's Hospital was the most expensive place locally to park for patients and visitors, at £2.70 an hour on average.
However, Papworth Hospital scrapped charges for both staff and patients last year.
Across England, NHS trusts raked in £90 million from staff parking last year. That was up from £86 million in 2018/19.
Just over a quarter of NHS sites (353) charge staff to park. Most of these (302) are run by hospital trusts.
Just 15 hospital sites stopped charging staff to park last year.
Rachel Harrison, national officer at union GMB, which represents NHS staff, said: "Charging dedicated NHS staff to park at work is disgraceful at the best of times. In the middle of a pandemic it is sickening.
"Government cuts have inflicted a heavy toll on the NHS, but trusts should not be clawing that cash back by charging the people we rely on to keep us alive.
"GMB persuaded the government to scrap parking charges for all health and social care staff at the start of the pandemic. But now many are charging once again.
"Ministers must now support our healthcare heroes by enforcing free hospital staff parking and scrapping plans to reintroduce charges once the pandemic ends."
NHS Trusts also brought in £199 million from patient and visitor parking in 2019/20, up from £186 million a year before.
Overall, providing parking services cost trusts £70 million in 2019/20.
During a debate on free hospital parking during the pandemic last month, Zarah Sultana, the Labour MP for Coventry South said: "As far back as June, parking charges were reintroduced for NHS staff at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire.
"Ever since, staff have been made to pay for parking. Similar things have happened at NHS trusts across the country. Charges were brought back at the nearby University Hospitals Birmingham and at the South Warwickshire NHS Trust, as well as in places as far afield as the Harrogate District Hospital and Wye Valley NHS Trust.
"Even now, as the second wave puts renewed pressure on NHS staff, charges are being reintroduced."
Minister for Health Edward Argar responded by saying that while parking policy was decided at trust- level, additional funding had been made available on the expectation that free parking for staff would be provided.
On January 1, it became mandatory for hospital trusts to offer blue badge holders and frequent outpatients with long-term conditions free parking all day, as well as parents of sick children staying in hospital overnight and staff working night shifts.
However, because of the ongoing pandemic, and possible capacity issues for sites currently offering free parking to all staff, Mr Argar has said there would be flexibility in rolling this out.
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