Calls to axe hospital parking charges fail

The Government refused to back a pledge made under Labour to scrap the charges in England, saying the plan could not be justified.

NHS trusts make more than 100m a year from charging patients and visitors.

For example, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust in Surrey made 1.85m from its car park in 2008/09.

Campaigners said the charges were an “unjust tax on illness”, particularly for cancer patients who can run up huge costs due to multiple appointments.

A survey by the charity Macmillan last year found eight out of 10 people thought the charges should be axed for people with long-term health problems.

Health Minister Simon Burns said former health secretary Andy Burnham’s proposals would have cost the NHS 100m at a time of economic difficulty.

In a written statement, he said: “At a time when the NHS needs to make every penny of its budget count, the Government cannot support such a proposal.”

The Government had embarked on a “very clear strategy” of reducing central control and intervention in the NHS, he said. “Telling the NHS how to run their car parks would be inconsistent with this principle.” he added.

However, he said “a fair scale of concessionary rates should be offered”, and trusts should work to ensure their policies were “genuinely fair”.

Ciaran Devane, chief executive at Macmillan, said: ““It’s simply not good enough to pass the buck on to local hospitals and wash their hands of the impact of such a disjointed policy.”

Joe Farrington-Douglas of the NHS Confederation, said: “Motorists should remember car parking is not free to provide – the facilities they use to park their cars need to be built, maintained, patrolled and properly lit. All that costs money and if it is not paid for with charges then that money comes out of budgets for patient care.”