Uproar as hospitals rack up £3m in parking charges

The figure has caused uproar among campaigners who have seen services such as paediatrics moved from the site in Weston Road to the trust's Royal Stoke University Hospital in the north of the county.

Julian Porter, from the Support Stafford Hospital campaign group, said today: "It just beggars belief.

"When they took over at County Hospital they hiked all of the parking charges up in line with Stoke.

"If they are making £3million they don't need to be doing that.

"They have been given millions to spend and still they want to rip people off for parking charges.

"People with long-term illnesses like cancer should be exempt. It is just disgusting for the people of Stafford.

"Not only have we had our services taken away but we have to travel a further distance and then pay extra for parking."

Bur Mr Porter said the biggest problem surrounding parking was the fact that at County Hospital people could pay upon leaving but at Stoke they had to get a ticket from the pay and display machine and guess how long they would be there.

He added: "You might go in their and get held up. The last thing you should be worrying about in the hospital is whether you are going to get fined or not."

The figures, obtained by Freedom of Information, revealed the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust made £3,073,062 in 2014/2015 - one of seven out more than 90 trusts to exceed £3m.

In response, UHNM have stated that the fees cover staff, patient and visitor spaces at both County Hospital and Royal Stoke. But bosses refused to break down the figure for each of their hospitals.

They also argued that because there were no third party car parking providers nearby the trust had to accommodate everyone on its combined 4,860 spaces, making it one of the largest hospital parking providers in the NHS.

The trust also pointed to its £10 weekly permit for a number of frequent visitors including relatives of terminally ill patients and people visiting inpatients expected to stay longer than two weeks.

John Simpson, director of estates and facilities, said: "The trust operates within the NHS Confederation's best practice guidance.

"Tariffs for car parking are set to ensure the cost of maintaining this vital service does not impact on finances allocated for patient care.

"As such, any surplus finance generated from car parking operations is reinvested back into direct patient care."