Overpriced and overcrowded NHS car parks add to the stress of hospital visits for half of those using them, a report published today suggests.

Exorbitant fees, confusing payment systems and a lack of parking spaces are among the problems identified by Which?, the consumer organisation, in a poll of those who had used hospital car parks in the last two years.

The survey, part of a response to the Department of Health’s Consultation on NHS car parking, found 67 per cent of people thought hospital parking charges were too expensive, 52 per cent said they had problems finding a parking space, while 33 per cent had to queue or wait to park their car.

Figures from the NHS Information Centre show that the total revenue across hospitals and primary care trusts from car parking was £111.5 million in 2007-08, £8 million more than the previous year.

The cost varies across the country, with some hospital trusts charging up to £70 a day for patients or visitors to park their cars.

Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive of Which? said: “It’s outrageous that using an NHS hospital car park is such a problematic experience for so many people. Visiting hospital is stressful enough and people don’t need the added burden of battling with the parking system.”

He added: “Now we know what people want, the Government must take steps to fix the system and ensure all hospital car parks have sufficient capacity, offer fair prices and have user-friendly ways to pay.”

Which? is calling for a “cost-covering” approach for NHS car parks to prevent the hospital either making a profit or having to use its budget to fund parking.

Mike Hobday, of MacMillan Cancer Support welcomed the campaign. He said: “Parking charges are a huge burden for cancer patients who make 53 trips to hospital on average during their treatment. Charging vulnerable cancer patients while they are visiting hospital to receive life-saving treatment causes needless distress and is nothing more than a tax on illness.”

Governments in Scotland and Wales have already agreed to phase out charges in NHS car parks by 2011. In October, Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, promised that if his party won the next election, the charges would be abolished over three years in England, for patients staying overnight.

Paul Watters, head of AA public affairs, recognised that hospital parking is a highly emotive subject and said the AA had “applauded” the Scottish and Welsh Governments’ policy. However, he added: “We recognise that charges are often a key part of a strategy to manage parking space effectively and that, if parking became free, ongoing parking management would still be needed.”

He went on: “Offering free parking to all inpatients and their visitors is the right approach, though we would like to see this extended to some outpatients, such as those undergoing regular treatment for serious ailments. The AA also sees the need for some thresholds, for example limiting the benefit to hospital stays beyond three days.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “We want to make sure that we get the best solution to providing fairer hospital car parking to all patients. That is why we have held a consultation on developing a fairer and more consistent approach to hospital car parking across the NHS. We are currently analysing the responses in full and will publish the results in due course.”