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Medics at a trio of hospitals will continue to benefit from free hospital parking - as other hospital staff across England will now be forced to pay from Friday.

Directors at the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust have announced they will not be re-introducing car parking charges, which were initially waived during the pandemic.

Staff will be able to continue parking at the three hospitals for free until April 2023 - before another review takes place.

Peterborough City Hospital is among the hospitals which will continue to benefit from free staff parking.

The news affects staff at Peterborough City Hospital, Stamford and Rutland Hospital and Hinchingbrooke Hospital.

It comes as free parking for NHS staff working in other hospitals across England will end on Friday (1 April), the health secretary, Savid Javid, has said.

Parking fees were waived during the Covid pandemic, but Sajid Javid said that the benefit would end on Friday.

In an update on Covid, Mr Javid wrote: “Free parking in hospital car parks for NHS staff introduced during the pandemic will also come to an end on 31 March.

“However, over 93% of NHS trusts that charge for car parking have implemented free parking for those in greatest need, including NHS staff working overnight.”

He added: “On behalf of the Government, I would like to record my thanks to everyone who has worked tirelessly to keep people safe over the last two years and whose efforts have enabled us to move to the next stage of the Covid response.”

The Department of Health and Social Care said that the perk was “temporary” and introduced in July 2020 “for the duration of the pandemic”.

It said that the scheme had cost around £130 million over the past two years.

Peterborough hospital trust to waive parkings charges for staff until April 2023