Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh parking permits: Nicola Sturgeon says 'NHS staff should not have to pay' to park at work

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said she will ask the health secretary to engage with NHS Lothian over parking permits at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

MSP Miles Briggs put the concerns of staff at the hospital to the First Minister in parliament on Tuesday saying over 20,000 people have signed a petition calling for a rethink.

The new scheme launched on Monday requires staff to apply for a parking permit if they want to drive to work.

The conservative MSP asked whether Ms Sturgeon thought frontline NHS staff working night shifts should always be given the option of a parking space, and asked if she would agree to a national review of hospital parking for NHS staff.

In response the First Minister agreed NHS workers should not have to pay to park their cars while at work, reminding MSP’s that she was the health secretary who removed charges at NHS owned car parks.

“At the start of the pandemic, of course, Jeane Freeman when she was health secretary, managed to secure the removal of parking charges from PFI [private finance initiative] car parks that still had them, so it is an important principle,” she said.

"I’ll ask the health secretary to engage with the health board about the particular issues so that we can ensure – particularly at this exceptionally challenging time – that those who are working at the frontline of our NHS are not being penalised unfairly.”

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh parking permits: Nicola Sturgeon says 'NHS staff should not have to pay' to park their cars at work.

NHS Lothian previously said planning regulations restricted the number of parking spaces and it had to balance the needs of staff, patients and visitors.

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