Now I can just about concede they may have an argument about visitors as it's difficult to know who is visiting the hospital for legitimate reasons... but staff??

What sort of employer financially penalises its employees for turning up to work? is it acceptable?

The hospitals in Leicester don't allow some staff to park at all. You only get a parking space if you need a vehicle for work.

I don't know this exact details but I understand that everyone had to apply for a permit a couple of years ago and if you didn't qualify you were not allowed to use hospital car parks.

I went to one of the presentations on this to talk about Leicester's park and ride as an alternative option (i worked in public transport at one of the local authorities at the time).

Free in Scotland...

..cos we pay for it.

My daughter is a nurse and has a parking permit, renewable yearly
Unless she goes to work early she risks not getting a decent parking space
Also she has to pay to renew her registration, every 3 years, where once it was a one off payment for life
Who else has to pay to do their job?

If employees are offered free parking in a place where others pay, the tax man sees it as a benefit and it is taxable.

And the staff permits are not free! Does any other employer charge their staff for turning up to work?

And public transport is not always a viable option for hospital staff who often need to travel early or late when there are no buses.

Doctors have to pay GMC registration fees annually @ over £400 a year which has to come out of their own pocket! And medical indemnity fees too which can run into hundreds or thousands of pounds.

Do supermarkets with car parks charge their staff for parking ?

Lucky if they have on-site parking. I currently pay £2400 a year to park my car near the office. Still works out cheaper than using public transport though.

MPs get reimbursed for their travel costs, on generous expense allowances. Surely other public servants should be entitled to the same?

It's not uncommon for employee's in other lines of work to have to pay for parking, essentially any place of work that doesn't have its own car park. But at a hospital or any place of employment that has plenty of onsite car parking it's taking the michael.
Especially hospitals where those car parks were built and paid for with OUR taxes!

Nor can I concede that charging patients and visitors to park up is reasonable.
I find it immoral and unethical.

NHS "free at the point of access".. Yeah, free as long as you don't mind paying £6.50 (or whatever) to attend your appointment, or go over time because so many appointments run late.

Arguably, parking charges to go town centre shopping, or parking at a train station or airport are fair game because these are things we choose to do. But we don't choose to get ill or have a car accident. It must be just awful for low income families to have to pay parking fee's to go visit a loved one. As if the distress of having someone close in hospital isn't bad enough already, then they have to spend food and heating money just to go see them. So wrong.

Sorry I meant to post a link...

Leeds top bill for hospital parking fines

My partner works in a large teaching hospital, he has to use a (not free) staff park and ride as staff are not allowed to park on site. There are several thousand staff, if they all parked there, there would be no where for patients to park.

I also work for the NHS, but in several smaller community clinics and in some of them I have to pay to park locally as the site has minimal parking, although if this isn't my main place of work I can claim it back but only the very cheapest one which is usually a bit of a walk (or the cities park and ride scheme).

What is the alternative? Staff taking up all the patient parking spaces? Most jobs in my experience don't pay for their staff's parking if there isn't a dedicated staff carpark.

I'm £370/year to park at work, or £5 for a permit + £2.80 per day.

If someone is working part time or on low wages, it's quite a significant chunk out of salary. And if it doesn't become worthwhile then people will look for another job. The NHS relies on a lot of part-time admin and nursing /healthcare support workers, if a proportion of them leave then it could cause staffing problems and impact on patient care, in which case they have to get locum or agency staff in which will cost the hospitals more in the long run, I think.

Same round our way.

Pay and display car park, yet if you overstay by just a few minutes, then you get hit with a £100 penalty charge, reduced to £60 if you pay promptly and don't appeal it.

So you are supposed therefore to know exactly how long you will be there for, and try and guess how many hours late your appointment will be when putting money into the machine.

And comically, the car park had travellers stay there for several days - of course Parking Eye left them well alone.

In addition to the revalidation every three years (not sure what that costs ) they also have to pay £120.00 per year to remain on the register so that raises about £80 million a year .

Nurses have to renew their registration every 3 years through a method called revalidation. The process of revalidation is built upon Post registration education and practice. Its purpose is to ensure nurses remain fit to practice throughout their career.

However, nurses have to renew their registration fee yearly, which is currently £120 per annum, which, like doctors they pay themselves.

Just thought I would set the record straight.

Why on earth would you not charge for parking. Why should the tax payer pay. You'll expect the taxpayer to fund their fuel next. If you own a car parking is part of the cost.

Nurses are subject to medical indemnity fees also. However, these tend to be paid by the employer whether private employers or NHS.

The NHS and private employers also pay the fees for doctors too.

GP's, as they are actually self employed have to fund their own fees.

Hospital doctors are indeed covered by NHS Indemnity - but they are strongly advised to buy their own medico-legal indemnity. Because NHS indemnity strictly speaking provides cover for the hospital, so the hospital accepts responsibility for anything that its medical staff does in its name.

However... the NHS Indemnity lawyers' primary responsibility is to the hospital not the doctor. If a hospital doctor finds himself before the GMC for whatever reason, or if there is press attention, then the NHS/hospital doesn't have any responsibility to assist the doctor. They are also not covered by NHS indemnity for things to do outwith the NHS - this includes Good Samaritan acts.

It's hardly standard for employees to be provided with free parking, is it? I don't even get the option of paying for a parking space.

You think it's ok for nurses to pay for parking so they can do their job, then?

Not at all hospitals it's not

When was it a one off payment for life? I've been nursing since the 1980s and have paid to maintain my registration every 3 years until it was changed to yearly a few years ago. The cost has definitely escalated - I think it was around £150 for 3 years whereas now it's £120/ year. The money goes to our professional body, the NMC, who use it to fund costs of disciplinary hearings for nurses whose professionalism is under question - and to pay the rent on the large building they use in central London.

It's not nearly as much as doctors pay to maintain their registration.

It is annoying paying to park but I've always done it. When I worked in a central London hospital there were very limited spaces and the charge was over £1000 a year for a guaranteed space (this was back in the 1990s). Where I work now (outer London) the charge is around £30 per month but that does not guarantee a space and I have to get in early. I've had loads of tickets and have occasionally resorted to using the public car park at a cost of £15 per day, in addition to my monthly payment which is deducted from salary.

However, when I first started working at that hospital it was free but, being near a tube station, the car park was always full with commuters so I didn't mind too much when charges and restrictions were introduced. Now the problem is that the closure of nearby units and amalgamation of staff on one site has led to difficulties parking again. At least the cost deters staff who live reasonably near the hospital from taking up spaces. We all have to apply but, being a shift worker, the car parking company is obliged to issue me (and most doctors and nurses) with permits.