The cost of parking at your NHS hospital: £95m

The cost of parking at your hospital: £95m

Extracts:

"NHS hospitals were yesterday accused of exploiting the "most vulnerable" after they were found to have made more than £95 million in parking charges last year.

Patients attending for treatment and relatives or friends visiting people in hospital were charged up to £3.50 an hour despite paying to build car parks through their taxes.

Last night, the cancer charity Macmillan, which obtained details through Freedom of Information, called for an end to the "shameful" charges. Two trusts each raised more than £2 million and a further 30 raised more than £1 million each from "outrageous charges on the weak and vulnerable''.

Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust took £2,414,672 and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust took £2,263,297.

Patients and visitors often have no choice but to use hospital parking, which used to be free. Some out-patients are too weak to walk further from their car and many of those who visit in-patients are themselves elderly or infirm.

The charity Macmillan Cancer Support Research raised the parking issue yesterday on behalf of cancer patients who have to make regular hospital visits. It said the £95 million total was shocking.

Judy Beard, Macmillan's acting chief executive, said: "Cancer patients spend hundreds of pounds each year on hospital parking. Macmillan wants to see all cancer patients travelling regularly for treatment to be able to park free."

"Hospitals have also started to charge for bedside telephones and television sets and many have replaced charity-run cafes with more expensive cafeterias."