Sheffield NHS staff pay £1.2 MILLION just to park at city's hospitals for work
“On what planet is it a good idea to charge health workers just for going to work?”
NHS workers in Sheffield are paying more than £1 million a year between them just to park at the city’s hospitals to do their jobs.
New figures published by the NHS reveal that in the financial year of 2025/26, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust made £1,226,394 from staff parking payments alone.
Meanwhile visitors and patients paid £2,289,872 in parking fees over the same time period.
The trust runs Northern General Hospital, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Weston Park Cancer Centre and Jessop Wing Maternity Hospital.
There are two other NHS trusts in Sheffield - Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield Health Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust - but these do not have data on staff parking payments.
However, the figures do show Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust took £17,544 in parking fees from patients and visitor over the last year.
The GMB Union said that across Yorkshire, NHS workers paid £11.7 million in parking charges between 2025 and 2026, with Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust making the most, scooping up to £2.3 million in fees.
The union’s national secretary, Rachel Harrison, said that it is “utterly obscene” that parking charge debates are still being had, adding: “On what planet is it a good idea to charge health workers just for going to work?”
Meanwhile, GMB organiser Jack O'Malley specifically called for the parking situation at Sheffield’s Northern General to be improved, adding: "Parking at Northern General is a complete nightmare for staff, users and visitors.
"Charging health staff to park at work makes a bad situation even worse.
"GMB members tell us they regularly have to park long distances away putting lone workers, particularly those working night shifts at risk.
"Urgent investment is needed to meet staff and user needs, while charging NHS workers to park has to stop."
Parking and access to Northern General Hospital, on Herries Road, has been a particular point of concern for years.
Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough MP Gill Furniss has petitioned for the Supertram network to be extended to the hospital in a bid to improve transport options, while Sheffield City Council is currently running a consultation on a proposal to change road layouts around the site.
The ‘Connecting Sheffield: Northern Communities’ scheme aims to crackdown on ‘obstructive parking’ around Firth Park, while moving nearby bus stops and making a handful of other changes that are hoped to improve public transport services.
Andrew Jones, Facilities director of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We do understand the frustration around parking and look for opportunities to increase the number of spaces where we can.
“Unfortunately, the cost, space and planning consents required to build a multi-storey at the Northern General means it is just not feasible option.
“If we did not charge for parking we would have to take money from patient care budgets to cover the costs of providing the car parks including maintenance, staffing and security as well as our park and ride shuttle bus services.
“Any surplus income is always reinvested back into patient services and we offer a range of discounts and exemptions for patients and visitors.
“We are aware that parking is an additional cost and so our staff can apply for subsidised parking with the permit cost graded by salary band. This means colleagues earning lower salaries pay less.
“For staff who do not qualify for a permit we offer other support including personalised travel plans, free parking from 7pm to 7am and a free shuttle bus between sites.
“We also work with public transport providers to get subsidised rates for our staff.”