A SURPRISE pledge to axe hated hospital parking charges will save the family and friends of the region’s patients up to £1m a year.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham yesterday promised to phase out the fees over the next three years, “as we can afford it”.

The move follows a long campaign by patient groups including Macmillan Cancer Support, which described charges as “appalling”. They have already been scrapped in Scotland and Wales.

Last year, people visiting the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton, paid £616,555 to park, while other large totals were run up at hospitals in Hartlepool (£253,047), York (£725,491), Sunderland (£354,844) and Harrogate (£357,298).

Now every in-patient will be given a parking permit that can be passed to family members or friends who wish to visit the ward that day.

It means out-patients driving to hospital for short appointments – who make up the bulk of hospital visits – will still have to pay to park.

The details are still being worked out, but hospitals are unlikely to be fully refunded the £140m annual cost of the scheme. Instead, they will be expected to find “local efficiency savings”.

The pledge could become a General Election issue, as the Conservatives quickly threw doubt on whether the cash would be “better spent on priority issues, like getting new drugs to patients”.

Mr Burnham told delegates: “When people are coming into hospital, the last thing they want to worry about is keeping the car parking ticket upto- date. But for families of the sickest patients, the costs can really rack up.

“It’s not right if some people don’t get visitors every day because families can’t afford the parking fees. And yet we all know that having friends and family around helps patients get better more quickly.

“We can’t do it overnight.

But, over the next three years, as we can afford it, I want to phase out car parking charges for in-patients, giving each a permit for the length of their stay which family and friends can use.”

Macmillan applauded the move, but said: “Hospitals save £6,000 by delivering a sixweek course of radiotherapy as an out-patient – money which could, and should, be used to help all cancer patients with the cost of parking.”

A further stumbling block is that foundation hospital trusts, which include County Durham and Darlington, Sunderland, South Tyneside, North Tees and Hartlepool, Harrogate and York, cannot be forced to axe charges.

If they refused to bow to Government pressure, Mr Burnham would be forced to pass legislation to force the measure through – something the Health Secretary said he was prepared to do.

During the speech, he also hailed Labour as the “party of the NHS” and attacked David Cameron for voting against extra funding of the health service.