The cost of parking at Ipswich Hospital has gone up for the first time in 10 years – with some tickets going up by 150%.

Short stay prices have increased by between 20p and 50p, while anything up to 24 hours has almost doubled, rising from £7 to £12.

The price of a three-day pass has risen from £4 to £10, representing a 150% increase, while a seven-day pass has more than doubled, rising from £7 to £18.

A stay of up to 30 minutes remains free.

"I was dismayed to see the recent rise in car parking tariffs", said one local resident, who wished to remain anonymous.

"Some charges have gone up by 150%. How can this massive rise, which is well above the rate of inflation and even above the energy price cap rise, be justified?

"Patients and visitors are not attending the hospital through choice but through necessity and, in the current cost of living crisis, it is difficult to see how this enormous increase can be morally acceptable."

Fiona Sparrow, Associate Director of Facilities at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), which runs both Ipswich and Colchester hospitals, said: “We have recently made some changes to visitor parking tariffs for the first time in around 10 years, including harmonising the tariffs at Colchester and Ipswich hospitals, which has resulted in an increase for some of our visitors who use the car park.

"We are reviewing the pricing based on visitor feedback and the comments we’ve had since the recent changes have been made.

“Changes to prices do not apply to patients and visitors who are entitled to free parking, including blue badge holders, patients receiving cancer treatment, frequent outpatient attenders, parents of sick children staying in hospital overnight, birth partners and those visiting patients who are receiving end of life care.”