NHS STAFF working at Dorset County Hospital will have to pay to park whilst on shift starting later this month.

The charges will be reintroduced at the hospital, in Dorchester, after the Government ended a scheme, that saw parking subsidised centrally throughout the pandemic, on April 1.

Pre-subsidy, parking charges accounted for an annual revenue of £725,000 for the Trust: with data from NHS Digital showing staff parking charges totalled £342,586 in the 2020/21 financial year.

A number of staff, who didn’t want to be named, told the Echo they were concerned at the timing of the reintroduction.

One staff member said: “It’s obviously being reintroduced at a time where, already, bills are going up and are expected to go up again in the autumn. It’s all adding up and this has just given us another thing to worry about.”

DCHFT said they were “conscious of adding to the financial burden” of staff members and would look to introduce a sliding scale of payment linked to staff salary.

A spokesperson for DCHFT said: “The Government ended the scheme for free parking for NHS staff as of 1 April 2022, so we no longer receive central funding for the income lost from not charging staff for parking on site.

“Unfortunately, given the loss of Government subsidy and the Trust’s challenging financial position we need to reinstate car parking charges, which will also help us better manage car park usage and availability.

“However, with the rising cost of living we are conscious of adding to the financial burden, so we are going to move to a progressive charging regime aligned to salary, with staff in lower paid roles paying less as part of a tiered payment system.

“We are not able to introduce the tiered arrangement immediately as we need to build the capability into our online parking charges system – so initially we will be reintroducing a flat daily rate for all staff.

“Again, in recognition of the rising cost of living, this flat rate will be reduced from the pre-pandemic charge of £2.50 a day to £2 for all staff until the tiered system can be introduced.”