A CHARITY which helps children with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and their families is campaigning after the scrapping of free hospital parking.

As previously reported by the Gazette, as of July 1, patients on a number of wards, and their families, at Basingstoke Hospital no longer receive blanket free parking at the hospital, instead having to pay £1.50 for 30 minutes to an hour and £3 for one hour to 24 hours.

These charges, which are capped at £15 per week, affects families with children with chronic conditions.

Now, Anna’s Challenges, a charity dedicated to helping children with CF and their families in and around Basingstoke, is campaigning against the change with a letter sent to hospital chiefs that gathered 330 signatures.

Karen Bennett, a trustee of the charity and parent of a child with CF, said the charges are another difficulty families of children with chronic conditions now have to take on.

She said: “Clinic appointments might be only an hour but we can be in the hospital for two weeks at a time - that is parking for two cars which works out as £15 per car so £60 overall. A parent might give up work or a work fewer hours to be a carer for their child so they have less money anyway.

“We are not complaining about the hospital itself at all. The consultant and staff are brilliant. There is quite a strong feeling that it [the fees] is a bit too much.

“As a charity, we would look to help parents with these fees. But we were set up to provide days out for families during their two weeks in hospitals and support them so we would rather not have to use money for that and not for the care of children.”

Julie Maskery, chief operating officer at Hampshire Hospitals, said: “We are getting in touch with Anna’s Challenges and hope to meet them shortly to discuss the concerns they’ve raised in their letter. We fully appreciate the issues they’ve raised and are keen to listen.”

Other patients affected by the changes include patients or visitors attending every day after one week; outpatients who have been attending for more than two weeks and continue to attend at least twice a week with the same illness or condition; and visitors to patients being cared for in the Intensive Care Unit or the neonatal unit.