PATIENTS and visitors who attend Worcestershire hospitals on a regular basis should not have to pay to park, a new report has said.

The report of the Commons Health Select Committee called the whole system of NHS charges - also including prescriptions, beside phone calls and televisions - outdated, unfair and a mess.

The Worcester News reported in April how Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust - which runs the Worcestershire Royal Hospital, the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and Kidderminster Hospital - rakes in almost £1m a year from parking fees. And on Monday, parking charges were increased at Hereford County Hospital.

It now costs £1.50 to park for one hour rather than for three hours as it was previously.

Worcestershire Royal Hospital also uses Patientline to provide the bedside telephone system - which can cost up to 49p a minute for families to call their relatives in hospital.

Wyre Forest Independent Health Concern MP Dr Richard Taylor is a member of the Commons Health Select Committee which has called for a review and possible scrapping of the existing system.

The report said it was unacceptable that some people had to pay out hundreds of pounds to attend hospital regularly and called for parking charges to be reduced or eliminated for those making daily trips.

The report has been welcomed by Stourport-on-Severn resident Jenny Smith who visited her dying father at the Royal for six weeks.

"When somebody you love is dying you have enough to worry about without panicking about what the cost to stay with them is going to be," she said.

Peter Cardy, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, also welcomed the parking cost cuts proposals.

"It is unacceptable for patients to pay hundreds of pounds in parking charges to attend hospital for treatment so the committee's recommendation for reduced, or free, parking charges is great news. Macmillan has long campaigned on this issue.

"We believe the Government must act now and introduce clear, enforceable regulations to ensure free parking for all cancer patients who have to visit hospital regularly for treatment."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "We will study the recommendations of this report carefully. We are absolutely committed to NHS treatment remaining free at the point of delivery."

"We think that hospitals should continue to be able to charge for parking but trusts should not fleece patients unfairly.

"Any savings made should be reinvested into patient care."