ITV GMB's Dr Hilary makes passionate plea for Boris to scrap NHS staff parking fees
ITV GMB's Dr Hilary Jones expressed his frustration at Government plans to reinstitute parking fees for NHS staff across England after the sacrifice doctors and nurses faced during the pandemic.
Hospital parking: Dr Hilary slams government on NHS treatment
Dr Hilary Jones insisted NHS doctors and nurses should be shown the support of the Government instead of being asked to pay hefty sums for their parking. Charges for NHS workers in England were initially scrapped in March but reports now suggested new measures will reimpose the fees from this month. After Good Morning Britain (GMB) host Piers Morgan proposed to launch a campaign in support of NHS staff to have the charges scrapped for good, Dr Hilary voiced his support for the move.
The GMB contributor said: "There are no perks for NHS staff, they work over and above the hours they’re actually paid for because they have to and it is their duty.
"They often miss out on their coffee break, they often miss out on their lunch break.
"If we’re actually going to encourage people to do this heroic work they’ve been doing, we have to support them.
"The first name on that campaign would be mine."
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Dr Hilary continued: "They’ve abolished nurse bursaries already which has been a disaster.
"Fewer nurses signing up to university to develop those skills.
"Also, they sold off all the land. When they had far more beds in NHS hospitals a few years ago, they sold off land, they sold off buildings and to make a quick buck they sold it commercially, it didn’t go back into the NHS and they didn’t think ahead about parking that was going to be necessary to staff.
"So they’re asking staff to pay £20 a day in most average hospitals but up to £77 in some hospitals per day, which is unbelievable."
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Piers Morgan slams government over NHS parking fee on GMB
Piers Morgan branded the plan to reimpose the charges as an “utterly disgusting” treatment towards those who risked their lives through the coronavirus pandemic.
Morgan said: “For years we’ve said on this programme this shouldn’t be happening anyway.
“It seems to me utterly ridiculous that doctors and nurses and surgeons, everybody else in the health care system have to pay for the privilege of going to hospitals to save our lives.
“This struck me as completely ridiculous.”
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He continued: "They’re going to start charging all the people who work in our health system again for parking in hospitals.
“So you’re not only going to risk your life and there may be another wave coming, we don’t know.
“Not only do you have to risk your life to have to pay for the privilege.”
“This reminds me of the NHS surcharge we slapped on migrant workers. You can pay to use the health service that you are helping to function.
“It’s utterly disgusting.”