Pembrokeshire's hospital trust is raising £50,000 a year from charging patients and visitors to park at Withybush Hospital.

The cost of a two-hour stay in the car park is 50p, rising to £2 for up to four hours.

The income from parking has been revealed in a week when hospital trusts in England have been criticised for earning up to £1.5million a year from these charges.

Patient groups such as Macmillan Cancer Relief suggest it is 'morally wrong' to raise revenue by forcing patients to pay for parking.

But Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust has defended parking charges, insisting that the income generated offset improved car parking and associated facilities.

These include more general and disabled spaces, better surfacing and improved security for staff, patients and visitors.

"The latter includes better lighting and signage and also the physical presence of a security attendant," said a Trust spokesman.

The hospital parking is run by Euro Car Parks and £50,000 is the net income available to the Trust after running costs have been deducted.

The Department of Health says it is up to NHS trusts to decide what to charge, and said charges deterred non-service users from using the car parks.

The Pembrokeshire and Derwen Trust says patients attending for prolonged treatment are not penalised because special arrangements are made for them.

"They are given a token to put on their car which allows them up to eight hours for the 50p rate,'' added its spokesman.

The charges were introduced in November 2004 following an audit which criticised the Trust for not charging for parking.

One of the benefits of the scheme has been that additional parking has been created and spaces are more regularly available.

A Department of Health spokesman said parking charges helped hospitals because they discouraged people who were not using the hospital from taking up the car park spaces for other purposes.