OFFICIALS running the University Hospital of North Staffordshire are refusing to say how much patients, visitors and staff are paying out in parking charges each year.

They declined to answer a Freedom of Information Act request from The Sentinel, because the parking is run by a private firm.

NHS bosses say they are restricted by commercial confidentiality.

That means the 1,200-bed hospital is not revealing how much has been paid in parking charges, how many fines have been handed out and how many penalties have been overturned.

Now patients' groups are calling on the hospital to reveal its income from the parking contract.

Drivers who park at the site are paying £2 for four hours, £6 for four to eight hours and £8 for up to a day.

Wardens patrol the area and those caught breaking the rules must pay a £40 fine, which is cut to £15 if paid within 14 days.

There is also a £3.40 weekly permit for unlimited parking.

John Bostock, chairman of the Stoke-on-Trent branch of Epilepsy Action, said: "The profits should be divulged to us.

"People with epilepsy need to be at the hospital quite a lot and many find it very difficult to pay the charges, which really mount up.

"Whether or not it is a private company running the contract, it is still an NHS hospital owned by all of us.

"We need to know if the cash made from the scheme is being ploughed back into the hospital and on what services."

Cancer patients undergoing intensive radiotherapy are hit by the charges, as they often visit the hospital daily for up to two months.

Ron Hillman, of Chell, who is a leading member of the North Staffordshire Prostate Cancer Support Group, said: "I know people who have been there for 37 daily appointments.

"They can spend an hour looking for a space only to be there for half-an-hour, having paid for two hours."

Diabetes UK member Sharon Sutton said: "Diabetics have to pay to visit both the hospital and Shelton Health Centre and with many disabled spaces now taken away from the hospital, even blue badge owners have to pay.

"That makes it even more important for the hospital to tell us how much it is bringing in.

"If people were also told what this money is being spent on, maybe they wouldn't moan as much about paying."

Health Secretary Andy Burnham, pictured, has now called on the hospital to be more transparent.

He said: "I appreciate the need for commercial sensitivity, but as a rule of thumb I would always err on the side of making available as much information in the interests of accountability and transparency.

"We have just finished a consultation on hospital parking charges and unsurprisingly the public would like to see them dropped.

"We are now looking at this issue with the possibility of at least waiving charges for in-patients."

A hospital spokesman said: "Car parking here is provided by APCOA.

"We are unable to disclose further detail, because the information provided to the trust was done so in confidence and may be commercially sensitive."

Middlesex-based APCOA declined to comment.

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