WITH Welsh patients due to benefit from free parking at NHS hospitals from April, Dorset people are asking why they still have to pay the charges - which some have dubbed "a tax on being sick".

The Welsh Assembly is expected to confirm free parking, with all hospitals conforming by the end of 2011.

Hospitals in England and Wales collected more than £100 million in parking charges last year and there are no plans to abolish the charge in England.

Poole Hospital's multi-storey car park charges £1.40 for two hours, going up to £7 for 24 hours, which are in line with Borough of Poole charges.

"The hospital does not profit from car parking charges," said a spokesman. "The income generated covers the costs associated with the car park itself, such as maintenance, staffing and security.

"The charges exist so that these costs do not have to be funded by money the hospital would otherwise spend on patient care."

Cllr Charles Meachin, health spokesman for the Liberal Democrats on Poole council, said he was intending to raise the matter at the health scrutiny committee.

"It's really bad to have to pay these charges. With fasting blood tests you have to go early in the morning and pensioners can't use their free bus pass. They don't start until 9.30am," he said.

"If you are visiting a partner or going for treatment you really have no alternative but to use the car park. People resent these charges," he said.

John Cherrett, who represents around 4,000 Wessex Pensioners said: "It seems that in the UK, the co-called UK, the poor relation is England. Why can't we have the same as everyone else?

"Whatever way we look at it, public transport, drugs, pensions, whatever, England is a poor relation. We are the wealth maker of the four parts of the UK and we lose out all along," he added.

Royal Bournemouth Hospital charges £1 for two hours going up to £7 for 11 hours. A spokesman said: "Car park income is used to support the infrastructure of the trust's car parks, grounds and security.

"Car park charges - of which we have some of the lowest in the south - ensure money is not taken away from patient services for the upkeep of these facilities."