Nursing Placement Parking & Travel Costs

Lady_K

Does anyone know if Student Nurses get a parking permit or anything when they are on placements in Hospitals?

And is it easy to get anything for petrol costs for this?

dawn2dusk

Hi, Lady K. I am a student nurse and have just come off placement. Students at the hospital I was at were not allowed parking permits. It took some students 30 mins to find a parking space. Total nightmare!
I travelled by bus and have completed the 'Clinical placement travel & accommodation claim form'. She should ask at uni for the form.
On the section for claiming car expenses: vehicles up to 125cc, she can claim 16.2 pence ! per mile and 2 pence for a passenger.
Vehicle over 125cc, 23p per mile & 2p for a passenger.
It cost me a fortune, and uni were not very helpful. I am going to see students union about next placement costs, see if they have any suggestions.
Hope this helps.

PS first post,its about time i started posting,looking on MSE long enough.

Lady_K

OMG Thats bad news. She hasn't been told the actual hospital she will be at yet but most of them in the class have been told. Those are the ones which are going to one of the two fairly local hospitals and some others that are going to be at one about 45 minutes away. So the ones that are left are going to have to travel quite a long way and more than 45 mins each way it seems

She asked if they had any idea yet where she was going to be and they told her to be prepared because she was going to be quite a long way out. That will be an expense as it is but she will try to claim it back if she can I'm not too up on cars but I know she has a low engine something like 954cc a citroen saxo mischief.

I had read on other threads about parking at hospitals being expensive and difficult and got worried. It seems crazy that they shouldn't be given parking permits. If she has to pay for the whole time shes there each day its going to be really expensive.

Are hospital car parks fairly safe aswell to park your car?

Degeneratemoo

I'm hoping to start a nursing diploma HE early next year.

With regards to the safety of the car park, each hospital would be different, I would imagine that most would have CCTV and/or security/car park attendants about. Just remember to hide all of your belongings (including small change) so there is no reason for anyone to choose your car over someone elses.

lucyhalligan

I've just finished being a student nurse, at my hospital, Students get free car park permits and also claiming back expenses, you can claim back as long as the journey to the clinical placement in further than getting to university.
Good Luck with everything btw!

Lady_K

Thankyou, it's actually my daughter that's the student. It's looks like it depends which hospital you are at, hopefully she will be lucky. Shes already done one placement and she didn't claim travelling expenses because she didn't know you could claim. That was at a care home though and car parking wasn't an issue.

Did you manage to get a job pretty easily after the course Lucy? I know people are finding it extremely difficult in and around this area

emma_b_4

hi

we got a permit and then it cost us 60p per day to park in the staff car park.

you can only claim back costs if the hosp is further than your uni. so most students cant as they are "usually" placed in their local area.

we had to ask for a permit they werent just handed to us and they fill in your reg details on it and put the dates that you are attending.
i would try and car share or get a lift, as i did. my shifts were 7.30am to 8.30pm so my OH would drop me off beofre work and then pick me up later. worked well!

Davidboy

My daughter had to buy a whole year permit which cost £21 for the hospital she is doing her placement in. As for security, if she felt unconfortable about walking to her car late evening, all she had to do was inform security and they would walk her to her car. As for expenses, again it is all about what burseries and things you are allowed. As I earn too much my daughter is not allowed any expenses!

Oh joy!

D

Lady_K

Crikey thats a long shift for a Student Nurse. I think my daughter at her last one had to do the same amount of hours per week as she would have at uni because they have to study aswell. And no night shifts while a student either again because if studying.

She said last night they are struggling finding placements locally now so they are looking further afield and even though they are in halls of residence they are looking at hospitals near thier home area aswell now. If shedoes end up getting placed at one nearer home even though shes in residence I wonder if they will give her expenses for travelling from the halls. She has paid an awfull lot of money to stay in the halls so this would be crazy a 10 week placement, the halls are around £75 per week of course she wants to stay there so she will still end up travelling

Davidboy

My daughter had the same problems with placements not enough to go around, cos she has the car they have placed her 45 mins drive away to the hospital.

She has also asked about night shifts, and has been told that from the second year if her mentor is on nights, then she will be doing nights too!

Yep £75/week is about right. She has opted for a house from July and just signed a contract. That is £42/week plus bills. So it is just about the same as halls. She is looking forward to it being a bit quieter! Hoping for some sleep ALL night. She will be sharing with another nurse so understanding the shift part of things.

My concern at the moment is the job situation, in the news so many trusts are reducing staff, just wondering if any other student nurses out there have managed to get jobs ok?

D

Lady_K

Well by the sounds of it she may have to travel further than 45 mins because they have already placed some that far away and have told her that she will very likely be even further away. She might have a car but she will need the money for petrol before she can claim it back and what if the car breaks down or something its happened before and shes been without a car for a few months so she would be in a mess if that happened.

The job situation is very worrying. There were 80 newly qualified student nurses left her uni in january and only 2 available jobs in that area its a nightmare. Her friend leaves this summer shes already looking for a job. With all the job cuts at hospitals recently it will be even worse. I domn't know why they keep training people there are loads wanting jobs already.

I am not racist at all but there are masses of nurses that have come from abroad and the newly trained nurses can't get jobs. The health service is mess. I never knew it was this bad. Its very very worrying