A CONSERVATIVE politician's calls for the government to end the “injustice” of hospital car parking charges has fallen on deaf ears.

MP Robert Halfron has branded the parking fees a “stealth tax”. Last week led a debate in the House of Commons on a parliamentary bill to scrap hospital car parking charges.

Last year, the Great Western Hospital NHS Foundation Trust pocketed more than £1.9 million from patients, visitors and staff from its car parks – the equivalent of £5,300 a day.

The figure - obtained by the Press Association - was up more than £150,000 on the previous year. Between 2013/14 and 2016/17, the income the trust received from car parking increased by 30 per cent.

Robert Halfron MP, who proposed the law to stop car parking charges, said: “These car parking fees are a stealth tax on patients, on the vulnerable (including the elderly and disabled), on visitors, and on staff. We say that the NHS is free, yet people with cars seem to have to pay."

But following the debate, ministers resisted pressure to axe the charges. Health minister Steve Barclay said scrapping the fees was desirable, but could have unintended consequences.

“I have to say I am incredibly disappointed with his response today,” former minister Mr Halfon said at the end of the debate. “I just urge him strongly to relook at this issue and actually realise that there is a cross-party consensus, and there are many members on our side of the House who want this situation changed. I urge him, when this comes up again, to come back with some more substantive solutions to scrap hospital parking.”

In Swindon, between 6am and 6pm parking at GWH is free for 0-20 minutes, £1 per hour for up to four hours, £6.50 for four to six hours and £8 for six to 24 hours. From 6pm to 6am car parking is £1 for up to two hours and £2 for more than two hours. There is no charge for disabled parking spaces.

Responding to December’s story, GWH said that parking fees was invested back into the “maintenance, staffing and improvement” of car parking facilities. Rupert Turk, the trust’s deputy director of estates and facilities, said: “The trust invested in over 400 extra car parking spaces last year [2016], making it much easier for patients, visitors and staff to park on the Great Western Hospital site. These improvements are likely to have contributed to the increase in income seen this year.”

Shadow Health Minister Julie Cooper said: “We are charging the chronically ill, the terminally ill, and their carers and visitors. Over half of all people aged over 76 years have conditions that require them to attend regular appointments at hospital and hospital car parking charges are an extra burden for them and their families.

“We have a National Health Service that was set up to be free at the point of delivery established in 1948 to make health care a right for all but that is not what is happening. Even though hospital car parking is free in Scotland and Wales here in England hospital users are forced to pay often at extortionate rates.