£45 hospital parking charge deters heart patient from therapy

PATIENTS are cancelling vital appointments because of "exorbitant" hospital parking charges.

At least one trust in London is charging up to £3 an hour to park - even if those doing so are receiving crucial treatment. Health campaigners called the charges a "stealth tax".

Researchers from BBC1's Inside Out programme spoke to patients who said they could not afford to pay. Pensioner Joan Laurance had heart surgery at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead last year and needed a week of rehabilitation. Doctors warned her not to take public transport for health reasons - but driving would have cost her £45 for a week's parking.

Instead, she chose not to attend therapy. She said: "The patients who do go to rehabilitation live quite a bit longer than those who don't. But it costs you £3 an hour to park, which I think is a prohibitive sum. It was much too expensive to spend, three hours a day for five days."

Actress Lysette Anthony said she was fined £60 for a 20-minute overstay at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her son Jimi, four, has juvenile arthritis and was being operated on. She said: 'We were given a £60 ticket because we couldn't leave our son on the operating table to go and satisfy Camden council. Quite apart from the expense, anyone who says 'get a cab' clearly doesn't have a child because cabs don't have car seats."

Hospital parking charges have been scrapped in Scotland and Wales, but not in England. Geoff Martin, of campaign group London Health Emergency, said: 'We have NHS trusts effectively imposing a stealth tax not just on patients and their visitors but also on staff."

A spokesman for Kingston hospital said: "The trust is well served by public transport and we have invested in initiatives to encourage cycling and walking to work."

A spokeswoman for the Royal Free said charges were set at £3 an hour in 2000 to deter commuters. She added: "There are dispensations for certain groups. These include visitors to patients who are near death or having regular treatment for cancer. The trust is trying to identify other groups who could qualify."