Sheffield hospital parking: Staff and patients voice concern at '£1m made from parking fees for NHS staff'

Last week, the Press Association reported how Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust earned £3.2m in car parking fees from locations like the Royal Hallamshire and Northern General Hospital in the year to March 2024.

And, £1million of this was reportedly from parking fees paid by their own staff, leaving the remaining £2.2 million to come from patients and visitors.

Now, The Star’s readers who say they work or make regular trips to Sheffield’s hospitals, have voiced their concern at the figures.

Many are calling for a nationwide rethink on why staff are charged at all, and others say parking fees at hospitals just leads to staff members’ cars clogging the streets of neighbouring suburbs like Fir Vale and Broomhall.

One reader, Debbie Lee, said she was a theatre nurse before leaving several years ago and had to travel to work from Doncaster.

She wrote: “I struggled to park in the staff car park even arriving an hour and a half before my shift started.

“It was costing me £16 if I had to pay for the car park down the road and I don’t feel safe parking on the streets.

“I left because of the parking.”

Another reader, Dawn Usher, says she left the service because of parking.

She wrote: “Staff have been paying to park for years. I left nine years ago and was paying for parking, taken from my wages then. I paid for parking during the seven months I was off having cancer treatment.”

“It's funny how the staff got free parking during Covid,” wrote Christine Wilson. “Went to work not knowing what they were facing next. Now back to normal and being charged extortionate rates to go to work.”

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust operates five hospitals and several clinics across the city.

A staff member working a 12 hour shift at Northern General Hospital between 7am would pay £6.80 to park - £4 for the first 11 hours and £2.80 for the hour before they get off at 7pm.

A staff member with the same shift at the Royal Hallamshire would pay £9.

Another reader, Mark Russell, wrote: “It’s all wrong, bang out of order. It was inevitable.

“Hospital parking should be free. Globally. It is not a shopping trip. It’s the most stressful thing in life. NHS on this is shameful. Hospital parking charges are outrageous.”

A reader added: “What upsets me is that all the staff naturally park nearby and cause problems for local residents who have to put up with the problems. Streets are packed and unsafe during peak NHS work times.”

Pat Bradshaw wrote: “There should be a car park for staff built for every hospital. It costs staff £9 a day to park at the Hallamshire. Absolutely scandalous.”