Gloucestershire Liberal Democrats have urged the Government to scrap hospital parking fees.

Patients and visitors in Gloucestershire shelled out £1,424,991 in hospital car parking fees last year (2021/22), new NHS figures have revealed.

Cllr Paul Hodgkinson, health spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat Group on Gloucestershire County Council, called the fees a 'tax on the sick' and urged the Government to take action to scrap car parking fees for patients and visitors during the cost-of-living emergency.

This would be paid for by the Government, instead of coming out of overstretched hospital budgets.

Cllr Paul Hodgkinson said: "As our hospitals are pushed to breaking point, it is local people who are paying the price.

"This is a tax on people who are unwell and the people caring for them. People in Gloucestershire now not only have to worry about terrible waiting times and understaffed hospitals, but also whether they can even afford to visit loved ones.

"The Government should immediately provide the funding needed to scrap parking charges for patients and relatives. It is completely wrong that local residents have to shell out thousands of pounds to see their ill loved ones during this cost-of- living emergency."