MORE than four in 10 NHS hospitals have increased their prices for car parking in the last year, an investigation has found.

Some NHS trusts have doubled the cost of a stay for patients and visitors.

Freedom of Information data analysed by the Press Association shows that hospitals in England are making more money than ever from charging visitors, staff and patients.

Parking charges at Royal Bournemouth Hospital increased in September by about 10 per cent, with the minimum parking time limit increased from one to two hours.

Some 124 NHS trusts responded to the Press Association request for data on parking charges.

Of these, 53 (43%) said they had increased prices in the last year for visitors or staff, or both.

Meanwhile, 71 (57%) said they had not put up their prices.

Labour has pledged to abolish the costs while the Patients Association said people should not be "charged for being ill".

Data published by NHS Digital in October showed that NHS trusts made more than £226 million in 2017/18 from parking, including penalty fines.

While NHS trusts in England still force people to pay for parking, the charges have been abolished in Wales and most of Scotland.

Some hospitals have defended their revenues, saying some or all of the money is put back into patient care or is spent on maintaining car parks.

Others claim their sheer size and the fact that they serve busy neighbourhoods means they take more revenue.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: "These car parking charges are a tax on the sick. The next Labour government will axe them."

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said parking charges generate revenue at a time when hospital finances are "under immense pressure".

But she added: "Charges for car parking at hospitals are a charge on people who are unwell, levied on them because they are unwell.

"We believe that patients should not be effectively charged for being ill."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We have made it very clear that patients, their families and our hardworking staff should not be subjected to unfair parking charges.

"NHS trusts are responsible for these charges and ensuring revenue goes back into frontline services, and we want to see trusts coming up with options that put staff, patients and their families first."