Arguing against the abolition of parking fees at NHS hospitals is a bit like voting against the conservation of polar bears in Alaska on the grounds that it interferes with the oil drilling. Even a pitbull in lip gloss would be hard pressed to make the case.

So iniquitous is paid parking at NHS hospitals perceived to be that two newspapers have campaigned for its eradication. There have been tales of nurses unable to afford to eat in the subsidised canteen because so much of their pay packet goes on feeding the meter. Loved ones have died alone while relatives scrabbled around in the car park for loose change. Widows have been landed with NHS parking demands while heading to the crematorium. It’s enough to make Vladimir Putin weep.

So news this week that Nicola Sturgeon, the health minister, will abolish this “tax on the sick” from the end of the year at all but three NHS hospitals was greeted with the sort of rejoicing normally reserved for homecoming Olympians. There are now calls for English hospitals to fall into line.

Sturgeon is guilty of Jabberwocky economics, however. Cutting parking charges in a hard-pressed NHS is a regressive step and counterproductive on so many levels. The parking fee at Edinburgh’s Western General hospital is £1 for four hours. At St John’s in Livingston it is £1 per visit, irrespective of time. Parking fees are already capped at £3 a day. Many hospitals operate exemptions for the long-term sick, those with chronic conditions, the unwaged, relatives whose attendance relates to trauma or bereavement, or those visiting specific clinics, such as the neonatal unit.

For a visitor to save 25p an hour, at most, it will cost the NHS in Scotland £5.5m a year. At a time when one in four specialists is not telling patients about potential life-enhancing treatment because they know the NHS can’t fund it, this seems unjustified.

That we have become a nation prepared to put self-interest above all else is axiomatic. You don’t have to look far to see examples of our economic incontinence. We are unwilling to invest in any of the things that really matter in life — health, education, nutrition, good transport links, marriage — yet the more flippant the purchase, the more we are prepared to spend.

Women who are willing to shell out thousands on a designer handbag begrudge their children’s lunch money. Men who snap up new gadgets moan about the cost of their kids’ piano lessons.

We have taken the great shibboleth of the NHS — that it should be free at the point of delivery — and distorted it in such a way that if we have to pay for anything, however peripheral and however small the sum, there is absolute outrage.

One newspaper recently ran a letter from a woman complaining that while her hospital had sent a taxi to collect her for her — highly successful — cataract operation, it had not taken her home again. Adults, even pensioners, should be able to find their own way home or be able to arrange to be collected. Why should this be the responsibility of the NHS?

Even those who would rather see £5m of cuts in NHS services than shell out £1 a day for parking may live to regret Sturgeon’s perceived largesse. The thing about paid parking is that at least you have a chance of finding a space. My local hospital does not charge for car parking. The result is that even if you turn up an hour early for a clinic, you have little chance of finding a space.

As a result of Sturgeon’s decision, the new, 720-space car park at Edinburgh’s Western General looks set to be scrapped. The 800 spaces available will be hijacked as free parking for office workers. From January, visitors face the prospect of spending visiting hour driving around Craigleith looking for a parking space.

But even these considerations are minor compared with the signal that Sturgeon is sending to the NHS. High standards of patient care and a fiscally responsible health service are complementary. The things that matter to most hospital patients — good food, privacy, single-sex wards, cleanliness, good staffing levels and decent accommodation — are woefully underfunded as hospitals struggle to meet targets and provide basic healthcare.

I’ve been in hospitals where I’ve had to wash out another patient’s dirty surgical stocking because a clean one wasn’t available, where requests for a clean pillowcase have been denied. A simple bed and breakfast charge, a paid-for personal laundry service and additional creature comforts such as fluffy towels, DVD players to rent, hairdressing and manicure services provided for a small charge, could make a big difference to many patients who may be getting first-class treatment but precious little care.

When it comes to our health, we Scots indulge in wholesale abuse and then expect our multifarious and increasingly complex medical conditions to be treated for nothing. The NHS should be encouraged to act more like an accountable, commercial business, charging for add-ons to make the patient’s experience more palatable. By abolishing parking charges, Sturgeon has shot herself in the foot. As ever, the NHS will be expected to patch it up and shoulder the cost.

gillian.bowditch@sunday-times.co.uk