Money made by hospital trusts from charging patients for parking has been revealed in shock new statistics.
Freedom of Information requests have laid bare the amounts made by Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust, as well as the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
Calderdale and Huddersfield raked in £2,202,134 from parking charges over the last year, up from £1,607,875 from the year before.
The Trust also made a staggering £16,908 from fines, up from £15,736 in the preceding year.
The Mid Yorkshire Trust, which runs Dewsbury District Hospital and Pinderfields in Wakefield, made nearly £2.7m last year from parking.
The exact figure was £2,676,000, which was broken down into £1,568,000 from visitors and £1,108,000 from staff after a change to the contract for parking the year before. The Trust also made £3,000 from fines.
Both Trusts were two of 111 out of 120 nationwide who answered the Freedom of Information requests by the Press Association.
They were both also outlined as two of 56 which also charge for disabled parking.
The total made by hospital trusts which disclosed the earnings amounted to a staggering £174,526,970 – up by more than £10m from the year before.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Leeds General Infirmary and St James’ Hospital, was one of highest earners in the country benefiting from the charges. The Trust raked in more than £3.7m between 2016 and 2017.
Politicians from all parties have slammed the hike in charges, describing it as a “tax on sickness.”
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: “The vast sums of money that hospitals are making from parking charges reveal the hidden cost of healthcare faced by many patients and their families.
“Hospital car park charges amount to a tax on sickness, with people who are chronically ill or disabled bearing the brunt.”
Shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said: “Hospital parking charges are an entirely unfair and unnecessary burden, which disproportionately affect the most vulnerable people using our health service.
“Even (Health Secretary) Jeremy Hunt has described this outrageous practice as a ‘stealth tax’, and yet Tory underfunding of our NHS has resulted in hospitals and private companies extracting record fees from patients and staff.”
A Department of Health spokesman said: “Patients and families should not have to deal with the added stress of complex and unfair parking charges.
“NHS organisations are locally responsible for the methods used to charge, and we want to see them coming up with flexible options that put patients and their families first.”
