HEALTH chiefs in Suffolk have rejected calls to scrap unpopular parking charges - despite moves to abolish the fees in Scottish NHS hospitals.

HEALTH chiefs in Suffolk have rejected calls to scrap unpopular parking charges - despite moves to abolish the fees in Scottish NHS hospitals.

The move to scrap the charges on December 31 this year comes after a review of the car parking policies of 14 NHS boards across Scotland.

Now Macmillan Cancer Support has called on Ipswich Hospital, and the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds to drop parking fees, describing the charging as “morally wrong”.

The cancer charity's policy manager Duleep Allirajah said: “We wholeheartedly congratulate the Scottish Health Secretary for listening to cancer patients, who have long been calling for parking costs to be scrapped.

“England must now follow Scotland in scrapping hospital car parking charges. An average cancer patient spends £300 a year paying hospital parking fees during their treatment - an extra cost they can ill afford as they cope with the stress of cancer.”

A spokeswoman for Ipswich Hospital said that when they had no charges safety was compromised because cars blocked the emergency access.