Do you think NHS staff should have to pay £10-15 a day for parking?

[MrsLemonadeBrain]

I work in the hospital and parking is probably an hour and a half’s wage (maybe more) for a shifts parking (it goes up to 18 quid if you’re on a long)
This has always been fine by me. But the last three days when I’ve been leaving work and paying for my parking (pay on exit type jobby) several people have been outraged about the cost of my parking and feel like they need to spend 10 minutes telling me how outrageous it is!
What is the general opinion on this?
Should I be as outraged as all these patients suggest?

yea it's awful I imagine people on low wage jobs really struggling to park. I'd assumed it would be discounted for staff

I don't think anyone going to work should have to pay that to park their car.

Meh.

Some jobs include free parking, some don’t.

I wouldn’t be outraged about this personally.

No.

My friend is a nurse and any bank holiday/Sunday/night shifts have discounted parking. The rest of the time, it’s normal cost to try to get more use of public transport.

I don’t teachers should have to pay for parking either - it’s all well and good to encourage public transport but people doing liftshares etc should be getting discounted rates.

I’m on band 2, I only do admin ward clerk stuff so sort of just thought my job wasn’t important in the same way as say a nurse?

Like it is a sizeable outgoing each week but i just factor it in.

Where do you work? When I worked for the NHS (in a hospital) we had to pay for parking but it was taken directly from salary and was less than £10 a month. £10 a day is outrageous!

I don't think anyone should have to pay to park to go to work, especially hospital staff!

One of the first things i check when i am looking at new roles, is that the company offer free parking. If it's a no, then it's a no go for me.

Oops sorry, can see you have already said it's a Hospital

I definitely think they should not have to pay.

I work in a large hospital in the west of England. - includes an a&e, maternity, nicu, cancer unit, psych wards, etc etc.

There's no reason why nhs staff should be specially exempt. It's a cost of the job.

Personally I don't think anyone should have to pay to park at a hospital.

Yanbu, I don't agree with it.

Wow that’s crazy expensive! I wouldn’t pay that much to park every day

I don’t think anyone should have to pay to park at a hospital.

Do your nearest car park offer season tickets? They’re often a lot cheaper in the long run, and some companies buy them for their employees. Just s thought.

I haven’t really got an opinion otherwise. I guess when you start work you have to work out how to get there and then factor the travel costs in. It is annoying and difficult though.

Depends on what other options there are locally? Most hospitals charge £20-30 a month for full time workers so I'd be annoyed if there is no other place for you to go that's cheaper. Equally if you can park further away for less and walk in then I think it's fair to pay tonnes to be on site.

I park on a residential road and walk in so my parking costs are nil. I've paid £50 a month before, and £20 a month. I feel lucky currently.

Hospitals should be free parking for all staff and patients (obviously up to the capacity of the car park).

It is a lot of money but many other people have to pay to park when they
go to work and they factor it in to their costings when agreeing the job. Starting to 'exempt' certain occupations would cause all sorts of problems as to who was and who was not eligible. NHS staff cover all types of work, so - should a nurse have free parking and a receptionist pay to park, they all play their part in keeping the job going. So, whilst I sympathise with the OP about the level of costs I can't really see why they should be exempt from parking fees.

@MrsLemonadeBrain - your job is as important as anyone elses. Ward clerks are hugely important (I say this working on a ward which currently doesn't have one), they make sure the ward has things like blood bottles, and notes and paperwork is done so patients don't miss appointments and things get booked.
They take a huge admin load off of other healthcare workers, giving us more time for direct patient care.
You have as much value as anyone else, everyone on a ward is part of the team, whether a consultant, nurse, cleaner, ward clerk etc.

At my hospital there's a complicated staff parking thing - how much it costs depends on how many hours a week and salary. I think I pay about £30 a month and I pay max price (full time, and in the high salary bracket) but it comes out of my paycheck each month. That's less in a month than you can pay in 2 days which is ridiculous.

I think it also depends on where you are, eg London amazing public transport you shouldn't need a car everyday so they can charge more to discourage it. Country hospital (me) lots of people need cars and transport isn't brilliant, so they need to be more reasonable.

Free parking should only (and always) be given to those whose work starts or ends outside of reasonable public transport hours.

That’s £2600 to £3900 a year.

Band 2 wages are between £15k-£18k so you’re basically paying up to 25% of your annual wage on parking.

I wouldn’t be happy and would be looking for a cheaper alternative.

I am not NHs but work for an outside agency in NHS hospitals. I have to pay £7.70 a day or walk fro half an hour through a dodgy area to the nearest free street parking. I am on a very low wage. Fortunately I only have to go there once a week.