"Shameful that hospital staff need to pay" - Readers share their views on hospital staff having to pay for parking at work

The Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said that over 93% of NHS trusts charging for parking implemented free parking "for those in greatest need", including NHS staff working overnight.

Here are a selection of our readers thoughts and comments on the matter:

Chris James said, “Not only do I think it should be free, I think that any payments made should be directly pocketed by the hospital/NHS , rather than one of those scummy companies making their cut first.”

Claire Dearnley is also in the ‘yes’ camp, “It should be free to staff. If the tories had-financed the NHS properly over the last 12 years it would not be necessary to charge anyone for parking.”

Tracey Shaw added her take, “Of course it should be free for staff.”

Elaine Brinkman replied saying, “That's a big YES from me!!!”

Cornelia Jane Hoades is of the belief that, “Free parking should be a prerequisite for all when entering hospital grounds.”

Over on Twitter, Angela Louise replied, “Yes I think it should be free.”

Oliver Daniels Sheffield said, “Yeah, it should be free as they on minimum wage to pay it back to the NHS.”

And Marie Rawson said, “Yes, why should they pay extra money to get into work.”

Meanwhile, David Bedford noted that, “The trouble is while it has been free it's been almost impossible to get a parking space when visiting hospitals.”

Anthony Chambers commented saying, “Too right it should. Even during the free period, my wife has only been able to park at the Hallamshire twice. They won't let staff pay for parking if the staff spaces are full, so she has to pay £15 per day to park at the Q park down the road. Either that, or she parks for free down the residential streets and walks alone in the dark to/from the hospital.”

Alan Calvert also noted that, “The more the staff pays the less the government pays towards the NHS.”

There were plenty of other comments as well, pretty much everyone kept their answer short and to the point… with a simple, “Yes”, while others like Mark Ros-Smith went a little further with “Damn right!” and Hazel Kennedy said that “It should definitely be free.”

Craig Stevenson is very clear on his view of it all, “Shameful that Hospital staff need to pay.” A view that was shared by many who approved of his concise take on the matter at hand.

Fingers crossed something is done about it… but let’s be serious here, it’s doubtful.