Some nurses at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital are unhappy at being made to pay to park again following the suspension of charges during the pandemic amid the cost of living crisis, Birmingham Live has learned. Around 20,000 NHS workers at the West Midlands’ biggest hospital trust, including 7,000 nurses, will have to pay for parking from May.
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust (UHB), which runs the QE, along with others hospitals including Heartlands and Solihull, announced it would be reinstating charges from May after the Government said parking policies should return to normal. Some other trusts in the Black Country, however, have said they will not be reintroducing parking charges.
And it’s emerged some workers at the QE have been left disappointed by the trust’s decision at a time when household costs are going through the roof. Olga Leach-Walters, a nurse and union branch chair said some NHS workers had told her parking fees would be “unaffordable”.
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UHB said the decision had been taken following the Government’s announcement and it was “actively working on a range of options, to best support staff to get to and from work”. Three Black Country trusts – Wolverhampton, Walsall and Sandwell – have said they currently have no plans to bring back charges.
It means nurses at Queen Elizabeth Hospital will have to pay to park but those at Birmingham City Hospital…
