King's Lynn hospital staff to protest over parking charge hikes
Staff are set to stage a protest outside Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) this morning over plans for increased parking charges at the site.
Union leaders have called for the hospital’s board to reconsider the plans, which they claim could come into force as early as this week.
Although QEH officials say they hope for a last-minute change of mind, one union says it will consider balloting for industrial action if rises are implemented.
The protest will take place ahead of a board meeting where critics want members to be questioned on the measures. It follows a petition signed by over 1,400 employees calling for the trust to reconsider the increases, which critics say will leave many staff paying twice as much as they do now by April 2020. Patients and visitors are also set to face a rise of up to 30 per cent.
Peter Passingham, regional organiser for Unison, which represents many hospital staff, said the measure could generate up to £400,000 a year in extra revenue.
He said: “We believe the Trust’s intention is to use parking charges to cover its shortfall in income caused by the government’s underfunding of the NHS.
“NHS treatment is supposed to be free at the point of need but patients and staff are being charged a parking tax to pay for treatments.
“Norfolk is a rural area and many staff, patients and visitors have no option but to drive to the hospital and they will feel the financial impact of these increases. Staff have made it really clear that they are angry with the trust about these proposals.”
A QEH spokesman said: “We are still hopeful that the protest will not go ahead but are awaiting confirmation of this from the trade unions.”
But both the Unison and Unite unions both affirmed their intention to continue with the protest on Sunday evening.
And Unite says the money generated from parking charges, more than £1 million a year, is already around four times the amount spent on the facility during the 2016-17 financial year.
Mark Robinson, Unite’s lead East Angliah health officer, said: “The proposed increases have infuriated doctors and nurses at the QEH, and would effectively wipe out any benefit from the three per cent pay offer for NHS staff presently being voted on by health union members.
“These swingeing hikes would see QEH staff paying more than at the overwhelming majority of other trusts in East Anglia, a region notorious for poor public transport links.
“Doctors, nurses and other NHS staff will be outside the board meeting on Tuesday to show their strength of feeling. While they understand the trust’s financial position, they do not believe it should be the hard working staff, who have barely seen their pay rise over the last seven years, who pick up the tab.
“If the trust does not remove these proposals then Unite and other health unions will consider balloting its members for some form of industrial action.”
The board meeting is due to start at 11.30am.
