Hospital staff across east Kent fork out close to £1.5 million a year to park at work, the Gazette can reveal.

Figures released this week show the health trust, which runs Kent and Canterbury hospital, rakes in the huge sum from staff parking permits.

As pressure grows nationally for frontline NHS staff to be given free parking, the figures show workers are paying up to £675 a year on permits.

The news emerged this week as the East Kent health trust announced hikes in parking charges for patients and visitors.

The changes came into effect this week, with many drivers now having to pay an extra £1 to leave their cars.

“Many staff work unsocial hours or commute from areas where public transport is not an option, especially after a late shift, and so rely on their cars”

It will affect those who wait between 20 minutes and three hours.

The trust says the short-term parking charges are being revised so it can continue to invest in better facilities in future.

Income is used to cover costs and surplus income is reinvested in maintenance and improvements.

As car parks are run by the hospital, any additional income is used in patient care.

Improvements include turning 34 parking spaces currently used by staff at Kent and Canterbury Hospital into visitor pay-and-display bays.

A trust spokesman said the number of employee spaces were increased at an alternative car park earlier this year.

Staff permits range from £2.08 to £12.98 a week, with employees being charged according to their pay band.

On average, a staff nurse earns £22,875 a year.

The Royal College of Nursing’s senior officer for Kent, Hamza Aumeer, said it is essential employers provide parking at a reasonable price.

He said: “Frontline staff are already struggling to cope with years of pay restraint and rising living costs so parking charges are another burden for hardworking NHS staff.

“Many staff work unsocial hours or commute from areas where public transport is not an option, especially after a late shift, and so rely on their cars.”

But the trust’s director of estates and facilities, Finbarr Murray, said the £1.49m annual income from staff charges has enabled it to significantly improve and extend staff parking and eradicate a two-year waiting list for a permit.

“We can now offer permits to those who previously couldn’t have one,” he said.

“In addition, the local community benefit as our staff now have the choice of parking on-site instead of some having to use local roads.

“We have also invested in better public transport links, enabling us to offer subsidised bus travel to our employees with more frequent and direct routes to the hospital.”