CAR parking charges for staff at hospitals run by the county’s NHS trust go up by 15 per cent from today.

Unions have reacted angrily to the increase, the first since 2006.

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust will up parking charges at all three of the hospitals under its management, the Churchill, the John Radcliffe, and the Horton in Banbury.

Mark Ladbrooke, regional secretary for the public service union Unison, said all hospital parking charges were a ‘tax on the sick and those caring for the sick’.

He added: “We really disagree with it as a matter of principle. For a health service to recoup money by taking money off its patients and staff is wrong.”

Staff permits are charged according to salary, but it will now cost the majority of staff about £120 a year to park.

Mervyn Phipps, ORH assistant director of estates, facilities and environmental services, said charging for car parking was a matter of making the ‘best use of public funds’.

He added: “We believe we should provide car parking but the only alternative to applying a charge is to use vital funds intended for patient care.”

He said: “We always try to make sure that we provide this service in the most fair and equitable way. Our staff have to meet certain criteria before they are issued with a permit, taking into account their clinical duties or personal needs.Even with this, the number of staff who want a permit is greater than the number of spaces available.”

In Scotland, parking charges for hospital staff were abolished in January this year, with Wales also set to abandon charges by the end of 2011.

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk