 Cancer patient Gerard Murphy paid hundreds of pounds to park |
A visit to the hospital can be stressful enough, but having to pay to park in the grounds can make things worse. More and more hospitals are charging patients and visitors to park.
For people who need long term treatment the inconvenience and cost can soon mount up, and now patients' groups and charities are taking on the health authorities.
Breakfast had more on this during Thursday's programme - our reporter Julia Botfield was live at Derriford hospital in Plymouth You sent us hundreds of e-mails about the cost of parking at your hospital, we want you to keep sending your messages in as we are planning to follow this story up in the coming weeks We heard from Kevin Barron MP, chair of the Health Select Committee
That was followed by our interview with Ayesha Owusu-Barnaby, Macmillan Cancer Relief. And Dr Jill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation Watch all of our interviews from the links to the right of this page Macmillan Cancer Relief The charity can help people affected by cancer, and financial help is available from Macmillan's freephone campaign line on:
0800 500 800
It will be able to give you advice on claiming for travelling expenses and other benefits
Crowded
Hospitals are allowed to charge whatever they like for car parking - we discovered some typical charges were between �1 to �2.75 for two hours.
Even then many car parks were over crowded so there was no guarantee of a space.
In Plymouth, Julia spoke to Andy Ibbs from Derriford hospital; it is tackling the problem my moving staff parking off-site and providing a shuttle service so there is more space for patients.
Mr Ibbs added that any profit made from the car parks was put back into patient care.
What's the most you've ever paid to park at a hospital? e-mail us now from the form below
The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide.
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
There should be no parking charges for hospitals anywhere in the country - health is more important than having to pay to visit hospital 
