A PROPOSAL by the Labour Party to introduce free parking permits for inpatients at hospitals must be a comfort to people who need to use the facilities regularly.

Health secretary Andy Burnham has promised to phase out car parking charges if the current Government is re-elected.

The MP said a permit would be provided for inpatients for their length of stay, which could then be used by their family and friends.

The plan has been welcomed by patients groups who have for many years called hospital parking charges a “tax on the sick”.

If it were implemented, the proposal would follow what has already happened in Scotland and Wales, where charges have been abololished following public outcries.

But just how this scheme could be introduced in East Lancashire is more problematic.

Because the hospital trust which looks after Royal Blackburn and Burnley General have signed up to agreements with private companies to look after their car parks, the decision to charge patients, their families and staff is now out of their hands, and will be for the next 33 years.

One way round this issue, the Government has said, would be for trusts such as East Lancashire to make efficiency savings to pay for the scheme.

Hospital bosses need to find a way to make this happen as people should not have to pay to visit sick relatives.