NHS Trusts in England pocketed a whopping £90 million from staff car parking charges last year, shock figures show.
The official NHS Digital stats released today show in2019/20 trusts raked in £90 million from staff parking charges – up £4 million from the year before.
Some hard-up NHS staff, including nurses, cleaners and midwifes have been forced to pay up to £2.50 an hour to park at work.
A previous investigation by GMB found some trusts are charging hard-up keyworkers up to £1,300 a year to park.
Rachel Harrison, GMB National Officer, 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 nowsupport our healthcare heroes by enforcing free hospital staff parking and scrapping plans to reintroduce charges once the pandemic ends.
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