Wolverhampton New Cross Hospital staff parking charges introduced
Parking charges have been introduced for the first time for staff at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital.
The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust said it had to bring in the charges, which are just over £4 per worker each week, to help it save £15.3m over the next three years.
Last month the hospital doubled the cost of parking for patients and cut free parking for disabled people.
Residents said they feared it would encourage parking on their roads.
Tracey Wood, the hospital's Unison representative, also complained about the charges, saying it was unfair for the hospital's cost-cutting measures to be passed on to staff.
The charges, which work out at about £4.19 a week, will come directly out of workers' wages.
The new charges were introduced as a report compiled by data analyst Ssentif found New Cross was the most expensive hospital in the West Midlands for patients and visitors to park at, based on the average cost of an hour based on a three-hour stay.
Cheryl Etches, the hospital's deputy chief executive, said she recognised that in the current economic climate, introducing the car park charges was "never going to be popular".
She said: "However, we need to see how we can save money - and create money - and invest in patients' services."