HOSPITAL staff, patients and visitors are being milked for more than £145 million a year by exorbitant car parking charges imposed by NHS trusts, a union warned today.

Charges have soared by 50 per cent, according to a study published by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which represents more than 300,000 nurses.

Patricia Marquis, RCN nursing director for England, said: “For nursing staff and support workers, the soaring cost of parking takes too much of their low wage.

“Nurses work around the clock to be there for their patients, and working odd shift times or in difficult locations means public transport is not always possible. 

“District nurses even pay their own fuel costs to travel to patients.

“Government and the NHS must rethink: leaving nursing staff out of pocket just for doing their jobs is wholly unfair. 

“Ministers need to invest in nursing, otherwise even more will leave this brilliant profession — and it will be patients who ultimately pay the price.”

A Department of Health and Social Care statement said: “We will always support hardworking NHS staff and have delivered on our commitment to provide free hospital car parking in England for those most in need.

“As of October 2022, all trusts that charge for car parking have fully implemented this commitment.

“This is the first time that free hospital car parking in England has been made available to those who need it the most.”