Unions called it overdue; the trust called it a first step.

Night-shift staff at Calder General Hospital and the Harrow Community Hospital will no longer have to pay to park at work from the first of next month, the region’s hospital trust announced on Wednesday. The change will apply to around 1,900 nurses, doctors, porters, cleaners and other workers whose shifts start between seven in the evening and midnight.

Until now, staff have paid £4.20 per shift or bought a monthly permit for £62, with a reduced rate for part-time workers. For a nurse working three night shifts a week, that came to more than £50 a month – a cost that unions have campaigned against for years, pointing out that public transport to both hospitals is limited after dark.

A long campaign

The decision follows a petition signed by more than 4,000 staff and supporters last year and a series of meetings between the trust and the main health unions. Unions argued that night workers had no realistic alternative to driving: the last regular bus leaves Calder General for the city centre at 11.40pm, and there is no evening service at all to the Harrow site.

“This is overdue. Our members have been paying to go to work in the middle of the night for as long as anyone can remember, while the hospital told them how much it valued them,” said Agnes Mbeki-Lowe, regional organiser for the largest nursing union, outside the main entrance of Calder General on Wednesday morning.

Mbeki-Lowe said the union would now press for the scheme to be extended to staff on early shifts, who often arrive before buses start running, and to students on hospital placements. She also called for more secure cycle storage and better lighting on the paths between the car parks and the wards.

What the trust says

The trust’s chief executive, Dr Laurence Abernethy, described the change as a first step rather than a final settlement. He said the trust had been able to fund it partly by renegotiating its contract with the company that manages the car parks, and partly through a small rise in charges for visitors who park for more than four hours.

Car parking brings in around £3.1 million a year for the trust. Officials estimate that the new arrangement will cost about £640,000 a year in lost income, which Abernethy said would be partly offset by better staff retention. The trust spent more than £9 million on agency nurses last year, much of it to cover night shifts that were hard to fill.

  • Who qualifies: staff whose shift starts between 7pm and midnight, at either hospital
  • How to apply: register a vehicle through the staff intranet; permits are digital
  • When: from the first of next month
  • What is not included: early shifts, visitors, students on placement

Abernethy said the trust was reviewing whether the scheme could be extended further, but warned that space was a bigger problem than money at Calder General. The main car park is regularly full by mid-morning, and staff on day shifts often have to park in residential streets nearby. A multi-storey extension has been proposed but has not yet received planning approval.

Visitors and patients

Patient groups have welcomed the change for staff but expressed concern about the increase for long-stay visitors. The rise, from £8 to £9.50 for a full day, will affect families visiting relatives in intensive care or on long-term wards. The trust said existing concessions would remain, including free parking for parents of children in the neonatal unit and reduced rates for frequent visitors.

Thomas Wainwright, who chairs the patient forum at Calder General, said the trust had made the right decision for staff but should not balance its books on the families of seriously ill patients. “Nobody visits intensive care for fun,” he said. “I would ask the trust to look again at that part of the plan.”

For staff on the night shift, the reaction was mostly relief. One healthcare assistant on the stroke ward, who drives in from the hill villages four nights a week, said the change would save her nearly £70 a month. “It’s not life-changing,” she said, “but it’s the first time in a while that someone has noticed we’re here at three in the morning.”