Cap or scrap hospital parking fees, MPs say

Labour's Ian Austin said he was concerned the vulnerable people could pay the price of any budget black holes if hospital bosses put up the parking rates to fill them.

The Dudley North MP said he was 'stepping up' a campaign he has been running since he was first elected in 2005.

And South Staffordshire Tory Gavin Williamson has said the charges should be scrapped altogether.

It comes as Robert Halfon, the Tory MP for Harlow, has revealed the results an investigation into the costs of parking at hospitals across England, finding some where charges are as much as £7.80 for a day.

Hospital parking in Scotland and Wales is free.

Kidderminster Hospital charges £7.50 for more than six hours. In London it can reach £26 a day.

At Walsall Manor and Stafford Hospitals the maximum rate is £6.

At New Cross in Wolverhampton the total amount is £5.30 and at Russells Hall it is £5.50.

Mr Austin said he was 'keen to ensure regulations are put in place to avoid rapid rises as hospitals come under increased financial pressure'.

Yesterday it was claimed by Liberal Democrats that an emergency £2 billion was needed to plug a black hole in NHS funding.

Senior figures are said to be approaching Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to insist on the extra money in the autumn statement.

Meanwhile the Government has plans to extend seven-day care to offer routine services at the weekend that are currently only available during business hours.

Mr Austin said: "When a member of my family is ill, we queue up at Russells Hall like anybody else in Dudley and I know how parking charges can rack up quickly – that's why I have always campaigned against these charges.

"Lots of people in Dudley have got in touch with me to say how frustrating it is to have to spend so much on parking when going to the hospital for an appointment or to visit loved ones.

"These fees often hit vulnerable people at a time when they may already be facing a fall in their income."

Mr Williamson added: "It is utterly obscene to put a charge on people's ailments in this way.

"I think hospital parking charges should be abolished.

"Where there are issues of hospitals in or near town centres and concerns that people will abuse the parking offered there, it is not beyond the wit of man to put a time limit or come up with some system for patients and visitors to get in and out."

Writing in the New Statesman magazine, Mr Halfon said: "This is against the founding principle of the National Health Service. We are punishing many of the most vulnerable people in the country, not only very ill people but also their worried friends and relatives. A system in which not all patients can equally and freely access services does not seem to me to be equal or free."