Covid-19: Hospital Parking Charges for NHS Staff Debate
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Jim Shannon
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Covid-19: Hospital Parking Charges for NHS Staff
Jim Shannon Excerpts(4 years ago)
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Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Lab)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered parking charges for NHS staff at hospitals during the covid-19 outbreak.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Walker. The pandemic has made many things clear: it has exposed the deep inequalities in our society and highlighted that it is the labour of working people that keeps society going. Perhaps more than anything else, it has shown the value of our NHS and its staff. NHS doctors, nurses, cleaners and porters have been incredible throughout the pandemic, working tirelessly on behalf of us all to defeat the virus. They deserve huge thanks and recognition for their courage and determination, so I begin by paying tribute to NHS staff at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire and across the country. I thank them for all that they do.
Thanks alone are not enough; NHS staff deserve much more than that. In the spring, in response to the public outpouring of support for the NHS, the Government announced that parking would be made free for staff during the pandemic. The Government said that NHS staff should be able to
“carry out their vital work without worrying about paying for car parking”
and that they would provide
“the financial backing NHS Trusts need to make this a reality”.
That pledge was, of course, welcomed by NHS staff across the country. So far, so good.
The pledge has been regularly repeated by the Government since. On 8 July, the Prime Minister told the House of Commons that
“hospital car parks are free for NHS staff for this pandemic”.—[Official Report, 8 July 2020; Vol. 678, c. 966.]
Last month, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care repeated that, telling “Good Morning Britain” viewers that
“We don’t have parking charges in English hospitals and we’re not going to for the course of this pandemic.”
That all sounds well and good. The only problem is that it is not true, and has not been for many months.
As far back as June, parking charges were reintroduced for NHS staff at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. Ever since, staff have been made to pay for parking. Similar things have happened at NHS trusts across the country. Charges were brought back at the nearby University Hospitals Birmingham and at the South Warwickshire NHS Trust, as well as in places as far afield as the Harrogate District Hospital and Wye Valley NHS Trust. Even now, as the second wave puts renewed pressure on NHS staff, charges are being reintroduced.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
As I said to the hon. Lady and the Minister outside, during the first wave of coronavirus, trusts and the health board in Northern Ireland did away with the charges, but restarted them after the covid wave had passed. Now that the second wave has come, they are considering stopping the charges again. Does she feel that the example from Northern Ireland and elsewhere indicate a need to subsidise staff during the covid-19 outbreak? Clearly, their work, which saves us all, is a priority.