HOSPITAL workers have warned patients’ care could be affected because of a lack of parking for staff and an “aggressive” stance taken by parking wardens.

A Wycombe Hospital worker told the BFP doctors, nurses and midwives are known to be late on to shifts due to a lack of available parking bays.

Workers – who pay a monthly fee to park on-site – have been ticketed for paying additional money to use the pay-and-display public car-park.

One worker was taken to court and fined £300 after refusing to pay the parking charge notice.

A staff member, who asked not to be named, told the Free Press that members in their team would consider a sit-in protest in the car-park if the “aggressive” car-park clamp down continues.

The employee, who has been fined, said: “People are often late for shifts because they can’t find a space, which has a knock on effect for patients.

“We received a letter to warn us that we risk a fine if we take a space away from the public and we should find somewhere else to park – but we pay monthly to park, yet often can’t find a space and there’s nowhere else to go.

“Most of us have decided that if we get fined again we will sit in our cars until something is done. The Trust says it’s not their problem but this is a big issue.”

The employee said the parking issues also extended to visitors and patients.

The worker urged Buckinghamshire Health NHS Trust to lay on additional parking at the Queen Alexandra Road-based hospital and to speak to its parking enforcement contractor to take a less forceful approach towards staff.

In a statement, the trust said like any organisation in a large town centre, parking provision for staff and visitors is a “delicate balancing act”.

It added: “While there is provision for 600 on-site staff parking places, together with a free park-and-ride, we advise staff that a space cannot be guaranteed and that we must take steps to ensure there is adequate parking space for those patients and visitors who need it.

“Where appropriate, we do support staff with issues around parking tickets but, equally, staff need to follow the correct process around parking notices.”