Anger over lottery of hospital charges

• Relatives visiting sick and dying face up to 55 a week in charges

• Scottish Executive says guidelines prevent regular visitors paying fees

• Unions and opposition politicians call parking and other fees immoral

Key quote

"At the time you are faced with your wife's health and her future - she had three major operations - you just do not consider that you're paying on a daily basis" - Henry Robertson, who paid more than 600 to visit his dying wife

Story in full THE astronomical cost of charges imposed on relatives and friends comforting their sick loved ones in hospital has been laid bare by The Scotsman.

Visitors to Scotland's hospitals face a postcode lottery of parking fees. Families also face exorbitant costs contacting their relatives in hospitals using private telephone lines that charge up to 49p per minute for incoming calls, more than the cost of phoning Australia on standard land lines. Charges for patients watching TV add to the overall burden, which can reach 55 a week or more.

Families and friends of the most seriously ill on extended hospital stays are having to pay hundreds of pounds to comfort their loved ones.

Colin Craig, whose partner Elaine McFadden was a patient at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh from April 2003 to March 2004, when she was battling pancreatitis, racked up 1,600 in parking fees. Widower Henry Robertson paid out 600 over seven months while visiting his dying wife at the same hospital.

The survey of charges highlighted by The Scotsman prompted cancer charities and unions to condemn the practice as immoral, while opposition politicians called on hospitals to review their systems. Ministers have forbidden any health board from using car parking to make a profit, but private companies are subject to no such controls.

The most costly parking is at the Private Finance Initiative-built Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh (RIE), where visitors are charged 10 for more than six hours' parking. The car park is managed by Meteor Car Parks for Consort, the firm that built the hospital and runs facilities.

The Western General in Edinburgh also charges 7 for more than four hours, while St John's Hospital in Livingston charges 1 per day. At Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where private firm Apcoa runs the car park for owners Impregilo, visitors are charged 1 per hour between 8am and 6pm and a maximum of 1.80 for staying overnight.

The North East has a high proportion of hospitals that charge for parking. The Foresterhill site, where the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen Children's Hospital and Aberdeen Maternity Hospital are based, charges nothing for the first 30 minutes and 1 per day thereafter. The cost of parking at Ninewells hospital in Dundee has been creeping steadily up, to 1.50 per day, and Perth Royal Infirmary charges 1.20 for however long you stay.

In the Highlands and Islands, Raigmore Hospital charges 1 per day and Dr Gray's hospital in Elgin is understood to be considering introducing charges.

However, the Scottish Executive said guidelines issued to health boards should prevent anyone visiting hospital regularly being charged and Lothian Health Board said parking is offered free of charge to relatives, where attendance at hospital relates to trauma or a bereavement. It also offers reduced fees for those visiting hospital on a regular basis over a prolonged period of time.

However, Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Patients' Association Scotland, said these concessions were unknown to most families and, as a consequence, they were paying out. "It is morally wrong that they are taxing the people who are visiting people who are ill, perhaps seriously," she said. Elspeth Atkinson, Macmillan Cancer Relief director for Scotland, said the experience of being in hospital was stressful enough without having to worry about the extra costs of parking, television or telephone.

"Travel costs are the biggest financial burden on people with cancer and that's why Macmillan is calling on the Executive and all health boards in Scotland to ensure that cancer patients do not have to pay for hospital parking," Ms Atkinson said.

Shona Robison, the SNP health spokeswoman, said health boards needed to have more robust measures to ensure regular patients and visitors were not being stung by outside costs. She said: "I would hope all the hospitals would review their charging policy."

Unions representing health workers in Glasgow and Edinburgh have consistently complained about the costs of parking, although the Executive recommends sufficient car parking space and concessionary car parking rates should be available. Apart from the ten named hospitals, all others provide parking for free. However, patients are also being charged to contact patients by phone in many hospitals.

Eight hospitals in Scotland have a system installed which is run by the Patientline firm: Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock, Ayr Hospital, Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Monklands hospital in Airdrie, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Raigmore Hospital in Inverness and Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

The firm charges 3.50 a day for watching television, although under-16s get free access, while it is half price for OAPs and long-stay patients. Patients can use the phone for the same cost as a payphone but incoming calls are 39p per minute off peak or 49p per minute at peak times. Phoning Australia from home during the day costs just under 22p a minute.

A spokesman for Patientline said costs were kept as low as possible.

An adult patient at the ERI who chose to sign up for Patientline would pay 3.50 a day for television. Two daily visits from close family members would add 4.40 in parking fees - assuming they took full advantage of visiting time and spent an hour at the bedside on each visit. That adds up to 7.90 a day, or 55.30 a week, without phone calls.

Tom Waterstone, chairman of the health services group executive at Unison, said it was "immoral" to charge the sick and their families. He said staff, patients and visitors were suffering from private companies' involvement.

"I do not think patients or visitors know the money they spend is not going to health services - it is going to into the pockets of fat cats," he said. "Patients can pay up to 30 per day for visiting Edinburgh Royal Infirmary three times, but it is free to park at Ocean Terminal. It is morally wrong."

An Executive spokeswoman said: "Guidance on charging for car parking on NHS sites was issued to all NHS boards in 2004. While it is a matter for individual NHS boards whether they charge for car parking or not, we do expect them to follow this guidance.

"Public telephones are provided in all hospitals. Some hospitals provide the Patientline bedside telephone and television facility. The use of either by patients and visitors is optional."

Scandalous 600 parking bill to visit dying wife

IN THE final days of his wife's life, the last thing on Henry Robertson's mind was the parking charges he might be running up visiting her bedside.

Even when the costs came to more than 600, he had more fundamental concerns.

"At the time you are faced with your wife's health and her future - she had three major operations - you just do not consider that you're paying on a daily basis," he said.

His wife Jean, 69, was at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh for seven months battling kidney failure and cancer. She died in January last year.

Mr Robertson had not thought anything of paying about 3.20 for every visit but he was furious when he finally sat down to calculate the total cost and discovered he had been forced to pay 604.60.

"It is really quite scandalous what genuine patients and relatives are charged," he said.

The case caused a furore, with MSPs and unions demanding a rethink on parking charges. Eventually it led to Consort, the company that owns the car park, agreeing to review the charges. The review is still ongoing.

But Mr Robertson has never tried to reclaim the cost.

The 55-year-old, who took early retirement from his job as a deputy superintendent of the Faculty of Advocates, is concerned about others who may not even be able to afford to visit loved ones.

"Financially, I was able to pay these costs but other less fortunate families, of whom there must be dozens and dozens, will not be able to pay these extortionate, unrealistic charges," he said.