Help stop NHS parking fees for Conquest staff

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust are implementing what is effectively a pay cut for staff who need to use a car and park at their place of work in order to carry out their role and work their 12.5 hour day and night shifts. Intensive care sister at the Conquest Hospital, Jess Austen, writes.

Staff are being told that they must apply for a permit which will cost £50 a year, deducted from their wages. This is a kick in the teeth after all we have done throughout the pandemic, on top of our lack of a ‘real terms’ pay rise in the last 12 years.

I just felt I had to take a stand when the Trust announced that they’d be introducing this new parking scheme. Since the start of the pandemic we have not had to pay for parking, and I feel that it is unfair to introduce this now, after the toughest 2 years most of us have seen in our careers. On top of this, the cost of living has increased at an astronomical rate – and this parking charge will be an unnecessary extra burden for staff who dedicate their lives to working long hours and providing care for others in the local community.

Staff only qualify for a permit if they live more than 2 miles away from the hospital which means that during winter months many will be forced to walk to and from work in the dark, often along unlit paths, as our hospital is not placed near the town centre.

There are no train stations within walking distance and buses that coincide with shift patterns are few and far between.

Residential areas surrounding the hospital will also be impacted as staff try to find off site parking.

Please show support for those front line staff you clapped throughout the pandemic by signing this petition. Many thanks.

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