Parking charges and penalties net Sherwood Forest hospital trust £2.1M

NHS Digital data shows Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust made around £2.1 million through parking charges and penalty fines in the year to March 2020.

Of that, £1.5 million was paid by patients and visitors, while £551,019 was from charging staff. The figures reveal that patients and visitors paid an average hourly rate of £1 at the most expensive of the trust's three sites, while staff dug out 8p per hour at the priciest spot.

Paul Robinson, deputy chief executive at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The trust has been able to offer free visitor parking from March 2020 until January 2021, at a cost of around £1.5 million over the course of the financial year, while colleagues are not currently being charged for car parking.

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"This cost was externally funded until September 2020. We don’t make a profit on our car parking, the charges are designed to break even and enable us to maintain and provide the parking facilities.

"Whilst we would love to be able to continue to offer free parking, this is dependent on us having the funding in place to do so as otherwise that money is lost for patient care.

“We do have schemes in place for people who need to visit regularly. For example, at King’s Mill a seven day pass costs £12.50, or £1.78 per day and there are also schemes for patients on low incomes to claim back the costs of parking.”

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Trade union GMB national officer Rachel Harrison said it was "sickening" to see workers forced to shell out as some trusts reintroduced charges for staff.

She said: “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.

“The Government announced last year that it would cover the costs of providing free car parking to NHS staff working in hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic. However, it said the scheme would end in all but "certain circumstances" as the pandemic eased over the summer.”