Chesterfield hospital staff to get free parking as UK fights coronavirus pandemic

Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has abolished parking charges for staff in the wake of the Coronavirus epidemic.

The move comes after the Government announced parking charges would be waived for NHS workers yesterday (Wednesday March 25).

The government will cover the costs of providing free car parking to NHS staff working in hospitals during this ‘unprecedented time’, the Health Secretary has pledged.

A spokesman said the Trust has acted on the guidance and abolished charges from April 2020, continuing throughout the duration of the outbreak. At the end of April staff will also receive a refund of their usual parking charge for the last week in March.Local Councils have also been instructed to offer free parking for NHS and social care staff and have been asked to make arrangements with the NHS around evidence provision for displaying in windscreens.A trust spokesman said: “Right now, we are unsure what the system for this will be – but in the meantime we have attached a letter you can use, which is based on NHS England’s template, but updated to reflect this new development.

“There will be some staff car parks on site where barriers will remain down – to try and support reduced patient and visitor access (although numbers are much fewer at present). However, arrangements will be made for these to open automatically on arrival and exit, so your passes will not be needed.”

Coronavirus: NCP offers free parking for NHS staff to get to work during crisis

NHS staff are being given free parking following petition signed by over 400,000 people