HEALTH bosses have been accused of levying a “tax on sick people” after it emerged more than £3.7m was paid by patients, visitors and staff for parking at Oxfordshire’s hospitals – the second highest figure in the country.

Charges at hospitals such as Oxford’s John Radcliffe and the Churchill brought in six per cent more in 2014/15 than the previous year for Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH).

A spokeswoman said it was because the trust was one of the biggest in the UK and its rates were still “lower than many other hospitals”.

But Patients’ Association chief executive Katherine Murphy claimed parking should be free, adding: “It is a postcode lottery and a tax on sick people who sometimes struggle to pay. This is morally wrong.”

Nationally, only University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust brought in more than Oxfordshire – at £3.87m.

OUH said £2,957,000 was used to cover the costs of running the car park office, paying for security and legal fees, and site maintenance. The remaining cash – about £770,000 – was invested back into patient care.

It came after the trust controversially increased charges in 2013 – the first rise in a decade.

But patients said this effectively amounted to back-door charging for NHS services.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith said: “The trust needs to look at this, and at least make sure they don’t put charges higher.

“They also need urgently to get onto city planning about fitting in some more car parking spaces, because the shortage of spaces at peak times is just as much of a nightmare for visitors and patients as the charges.”

Mark Neal, interim head of estates at OUHT, said: “Oxford University Hospitals is one of the biggest hospital trusts in the country, running four hospitals on different sites. Our charges are lower than many other hospitals and in keeping with car parking charges locally.”

When it changed fees in 2013, the trust also lowered its daily rate for parking from £10 to £7 and introduced free parking between 8pm and 8am, said Mr Neal.

He added: “We have to charge for car parking to cover the costs of maintaining our car parks and, in an area of high demand for parking, to deter people from using them for other purposes.

“Otherwise we would have to use money that would be spent on patient care.”

The trust currently charges £1.40 for one hour, £2.80 for two hours, £4.20 for four hours, £7 for a day and £10 for seven days.

Limited free disabled parking is available and regular attendees at radiotherapy, chemotherapy, renal dialysis, dermatology and transplant can get free parking, as well as those who have family members who are critically ill. Discretionary permits are also available.

But charging for parking and a lack of spaces available at OUHT’s sites remained a key concern of patients, watchdog group Healthwatch said.

Earlier this year Sir Peter Morris, former Oxford Nuffield Professor of Surgery and past president of the Royal College of Surgeons, wrote to the John Radcliffe to say the parking situation was “a disgraceful chaos”.

The trust has since said it is in discussions with Oxford City Council over how the situation can be improved.

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A Healthwatch spokesman yesterday added: “The issue of parking charges at OUHT hospital sites is one of the many travel-related concerns which patients have expressed, along with the number of available spaces and difficulties with public transport.

“While having to pay for hospital parking is obviously not popular, Healthwatch Oxfordshire accepts there are a number of practical reasons why this is necessary, not least the pressure on parking in Oxford as a whole.

“We hope that the trust is receptive to feedback concerning the level of the charges being imposed.”

Chris Clifford, of Windmill Road in Oxford, has to visit the Churchill Hospital every two weeks.

He said: “I can afford to pay the charges and I do, but I do not think someone using the National Health Service should have to pay for car parking if they are receiving treatment. If you are going to have a national health service, it needs to be exactly that, but this means you are basically charging around the edges.”

The JR has 743 car parking spaces available for the public, the Churchill 410, the Horton, in Banbury, 239, and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre 205.