ROYAL Bolton Hospital chiefs raked in more than £1 million through parking charges and penalty fines in one year, new figures show.

Hospital chiefs said the cash raisd through charging people to park is used to improve patient care and maintaining car parks.

But trade union GMB said it is "sickening" that nurses, midwives and cleaners in many hospital trusts across the country have to shell out money to park and called on the Government to scrap parking charges for workers.

NHS Digital data shows Bolton NHS Foundation Trust made around £1.6 million through parking charges and penalty fines in the year to March 2020.

Of that, £1.1 million was paid by patients and visitors, while £520,850 was raked in through charging staff to park.

Currently staff are not being charged to park as they battle the pandemic.

Figures reveal that patients and visitors paid an average hourly rate of £1 at the most expensive of the trust's two sites, while staff dug out 6p per hour at the priciest spot.

The trust has two locations ­— Avondale Health Centre and the hospital.

Annette Walker, Director of Finance at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “All revenue from parking charges is utilised for the benefit of patient care at the Trust, including providing maintenance and staffing of car parks.

“Last year we introduced an automated number plate recognition system on the hospital site which is designed to help make sure all available parking space at the hospital is used effectively and that cars are parked appropriately.

“We also continue to not charge NHS employees as part of the on-going arrangements to support staff as they continue to work through the pandemic. Payment for car parking through the payroll system has been suspended since March.”

Automated number plate recognition (ANPR) at the hospital is operated by Parking Eye, which came onboard with car parking operations in August of last year - and was not part of the car parking operations during the period these figures refer to.

The figures represent the gross income earned by the NHS and do not take into account its own costs for providing car parking.

Trade union GMB said charging NHS staff to park at work is "disgraceful".

Rachel Harrison, trade union GMB's national officer, said: “Ministers must now support our healthcare heroes by enforcing free hospital staff parking and scrapping plans to reintroduce charges once the pandemic ends."

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: "In March, the Government committed to making hospital car parking free for NHS staff for the duration of the pandemic and is providing additional money to NHS trusts to cover the cost of implementing this.

"Any surplus income generated from hospital car parks not used to fund the provision of car parking, such as security and maintenance, must be reinvested into frontline care."