Darent Valley Hospital: Parking charge petition for NHS staff

More than 1,900 people have signed a petition against parking charges for NHS staff at a Kent hospital.

During the pandemic parking charges were lifted for all staff at the Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford.

Now more patients and visitors are back on site, pre-pandemic rules are coming back into force. A decision the GMB union has called "outrageous".

The hospital said it is following national policy and has insufficient space to offer all staff free parking.

Government guidance says there should be free NHS parking for those "with the greatest need".

That includes staff working night shifts, or anyone with a disabled badge.

Local resident Laura Flood set up the petition and said: "We were clapping for our NHS heroes less than 18 months ago, and now we're expecting the same staff members to pay £10 a day to continue doing the same job."

Helen O'Connor, GMB regional organiser for the NHS, warned staff "will leave" due to the charges.

"There is a recruitment crises in the NHS, with 100,000 vacancies because pay, terms and conditions are being driven down so much.

"Staff are being driven into poverty," she said, adding: "It is outrageous these extortionate charges are being reimposed".

By Mark Norman, Health Correspondent, BBC South East

Every hospital in the south east has more staff working than parking spaces.

Darent Valley has 4,000 staff, but just 1,500 spaces. Of those 1,147 are already allocated to staff, with free permits issued on a priority basis.

Those without a permit must find an alternative way to commute, or pay to park in one of 257 remaining spaces left for patients and visitors.

Hospitals have issues expanding car parking, for instance some would require the NHS to invest heavily in purchasing additional land.

There is public transport to the hospital, but no system is perfect.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said: "There is insufficient space on the Darent Valley site to allow for all staff to have a permit to park."

She added that with more people now attending the emergency department and outpatient appointments, and visitor restrictions relaxing, "it became apparent looking at the traffic congestion on site that we reluctantly needed to go back to the permit system".