THE largest nursing union in the country has urged bosses at the John Radcliffe Hospital to solve a bitter parking row after nurses warned of a 'mass exodus' of staff.

The Royal College of Nursing has responded to concerns raised by staff that some workers at the Headington hospital were facing fines just trying to get to work, due to problems obtaining parking permits and a lack of available spaces.

Several members of staff have told the Oxford Mail that they have been either been fined or forced to park in visitor spaces, which can cost up to £1,000 a year for full-time staff.

Victoria Couling, senior regional officer at the Royal College of Nursing said: "Parking at Oxford Hospitals is a struggle if you are a patient, visitor or member of staff. The trust really needs to explore more options for viable alternatives for staff.

"There are ongoing discussions but there really does need to be less rhetoric and more reality.

"It is not fair for staff who know they are facing a 12-hour shift to be worrying about if they can park their car or where they should park it.

"Getting the bus into work only works for some shift patterns and the cost soon mounts up, especially for nurses and health care assistants who have seen their pay capped.”

At the John Radcliffe Hospital there are currently 1,601 spaces reserved for staff and 730 for patients and visitors.

The car park is managed by the trust and all proceeds are returned back to the trust.

One nurse, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Oxford Mail the situation was 'ridiculous', adding: “Staff will leave, especially if the situation stays like this, it is already an expensive place to live in Oxford.

“This has happened to lots of other members of staff. I have to get to work and get to meetings or other things on site.”

Another member of staff said they had to use a patient and visitor space at a cost of £7 a day just to get to work after three applications for a parking permit were denied.

And a nurse from Northamptonshire, who asked not to be named, said: "There are members of staff who live within Oxford who have parking permits, whereas I drive 45 minutes, approximately 28 miles, leave my house two and half hours before I start work just to make sure I get a space which costs my roughly £100 a month.

"That's £1,200 a year."

The fresh comments come after surgeon Christopher Darby was taken to court by the trust after said he was forced to park illegally to get to his sick patients on time, and lost his battle against a parking fine.

In response to the fresh concerns, Paul Brennan, director of clinical services, admitted that there were no easy solutions to the problem.

He said the trust has consulted on a scheme which would see 90,000 appointments moved to the Horton in Banbury to free up space.

He added: “We are well aware that parking on all of our sites is a challenge for patients and our staff.

“That is why we try and encourage anyone who is able to travel to our sites in other ways, such as walking, cycling and using public transport.

“We have also moved more than 200 non-clinical staff off-site, which has helped to reduce some of the demand for parking spaces at our Headington hospitals.

“Staff are only granted parking permits if they are considered to have a need according to our policies, but spaces are not guaranteed and everyone needs to ensure that they are parking legitimately.”

The RCN said it was concerned about the trust having problems gaining permission from the county council to build more spaces.

Mr Brennan said a proposed multi-storey car park was under consideration, but that this would not generate additional spaces overall.

He added the long term solution was 'a combination of initiatives', including looking at alternative methods of travel for staff and patients to the site.