Oxfordshire's main hospitals have made £900,000 profit from parking charges in the past year but have ploughed it all back into patient care.

According to the Oxford University Hospitals Trust – which runs the John Radcliffe, Churchill and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford, and The Horton Hospital in Banbury – the car parks netted £2.6m last year.

A spokesman said: “There are costs of £1.75m for running and maintaining the car parks, including security and energy (lighting).

“The trust made a surplus of £900,000 at the end of the last financial year 2010/11 which went back into patient care.”

The first 30 minutes of car parking on the trust sites are free of charge and increases by £1 per hour thereafter to a ceiling of £10 for up to 12 hours.

Some patients and visitors may be entitled to discounted or free parking, for example when patients, and or visitors have to attend regularly and frequently over an extended period.

A national survey by data company SSentif showed more than a quarter of hospital trusts have increased car parking charges for patients and visitors.

The current OUH public car parking charges have been in place since 2007.

The spokesman said there were no plans to increase current charges.