A MULTI-storey car park creating an extra 500 spaces could be built at Worcestershire Royal Hospital to put an end to the parking chaos that has blighted it since it opened.

John Rostill, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said it would increase the current 1,370 spaces by nearly a third and could be built next to the current staff car park on the 'south' car park at the Royal, or replace the Aconbury Unit on Newtown Road.

Plans are in place to shut the 96-bed rehabilitation unit - which has come under fire from patients who have dubbed it a 'dumping ground for the elderly' - as part of proposals put forward to save the county's hospitals £20m a year.

Mr Rostill initially put forward the car park suggestion at a meeting of Worcestershire County Council's health overview and scrutiny steering

Committee when asked if a private health facility might take over the Aconbury site.

He told members he would be "surprised" if this happened, and instead suggested that the site could be demolished to make way for a multi-storey car park.

Mr Rostill told the Worcester News that since that meeting, further discussions had taken place with planners and there was now a positive response to a double-storey car park on the south car park site.

"It wasn't an entirely flippant remark, and we are looking at all the possibilities as to where a double-storey car park could be built," he added.

The news has delighted residents in nearby streets who have frequently complained about drivers who cannot find a space at the hospital parking in front of their houses.

Geoffrey Williams, of Nightingale Avenue, said cars often park on both sides of his narrow road leaving little room if emergency vehicles needed to get through.

"It's about time another car park was built - it should have been built in the beginning," he said.

"Hopefully, it will mean an end to the problems once and for all."