PARKING charges at the Royal Bolton Hospital are "taxing the ill" and should be scrapped, a Bolton MP has said.

Yasmin Qureshi, the MP for Bolton South East, which includes the hospital, has urged the government to abolish car parking charges in hospitals across the country.

She has now written to Jeremy Hunt, the secretary of state for health, asking him if will consider making parking free for hospital appointments and visits — or give the Royal Bolton enough funding so they can scrap the charges.

Speaking in parliament she said: “The NHS is supposed to be free at the point of use. When we set sometimes exorbitant charges at different hospitals, we are effectively taxing the ill and their families”

She added: “We now have an elderly population and most older people have not just one health issue, but several health complications, so they often end up having to go to hospital to see consultants and doctors for several different health issues.

“Each time they go, they or the person accompanying them has to pay hospital parking charges.

"I think we should do the noble thing: abolish parking charges full stop, across the country.”

Visitors to the Royal Bolton currently pay £3 for 24 hours parking at the trust’s three main car parks, and parking is free for blue badge holders.

Free car parking is also available for cancer patients in the Churchill Unit.

Charges within hospitals has largely been abolished in Scotland and Wales, while in England research from Macmillan Cancer Support shows the average daily cost is £7.66 — with some hospitals charging as much as £24 for 24 hours.

David Wakefield, chairman of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said there will be further changes to the charges in hospital next year — but has not yet revealed what they will be.

He said: “Car parking charges at the Royal Bolton Hospital site are among the lowest in the north west and charges levied reflect the cost of providing the service.

“Car parking charges were discussed by the trust board and governors in March 2014 and it was agreed that future charges will be included in the trust’s property strategy which is due for review in early 2015.”