JUNIOR doctors in Liverpool face paying for their accommodation, under a rule change sneaked through parliament.

The Government has ended the responsibility of hospitals to provide free rooms during the first year of training – a decision condemned by the Conservatives.

Stephen O’Brien, the Tory health spokesman and a Cheshire MP, accused the Department of Health of "robbing junior doctors of a roof over their heads".

Last night, the Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust confirmed it was exploring charging its junior doctors for rooms, although no final decision had been taken.

Mr O’Brien said the rule change, which came into force in July, was another blow to trainee doctors still reeling from the fiasco of online job applications, introduced earlier this year.

And he attacked the way it was implemented through a "statutory instrument", which meant it was not announced and most MPs were unaware of it.

To add insult to injury, any doctor continuing to enjoy free, or subsidised, accommodation will be taxed on the perk, he added.

Mr O’Brien said: "Labour’s treatment of our junior doctors continues to be unforgivable and this compounds the offence.

"To take away their accommodation is one thing – brazenly to take it away, shirking consultation with doctors, medical students and parliamentarians, is quite another."

The right to free accommodation was abruptly withdrawn just five days before this year’s group of trainee doctors started their studies on August 1.

It removed a requirement in the 1983 Medical Act, introduced because junior doctors move around different hospitals and find it difficult to rent.

A spokesman for the Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen Trust said: "We do not charge for rooms, but we are currently reviewing the implications of doing so."

Mr O’Brien said the Government failed to mention the change in debates on amending the Act, which renames juniors as Foundation Year 1 doctors. Quizzed in the Commons chamber, Health Secretary Alan Johnson said he was "unaware" of the new rules. However, the Department of Health confirmed the changes, stating that guaranteeing free rooms was "archaic".

Although training hospitals have been free to start charging for rooms since August, it is understood they were asked to delay until next summer because hospitals had advertised jobs for 2007-08 – including free accommodation.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has said it will demand an increase in pay to ensure junior doctors do not lose out.