Mayo University Hospital has been congratulated by the Irish Cancer Society for its car-parking scheme for cancer patients.

Unlike most other hospitals around the country, the Castlebar hospital allows cancer patients going through treatment to park free of charge.

The Cancer Society says that, in other hospitals, patients could be paying up to 63 euro per week in car-parking charges which is an additional financial burden on patients and their families.

The average cost of parking at the designated cancer centres, such as Galway, is 8 euro for a 4-hour stay.

The society is asking the HSE to issue guidelines to hospitals to extend free car parking for cancer patients, which is currently available at Mayo University Hospital, to all hospitals around the country.