RELIEF is at hand for patients and visitors faced with parking problems at a recently opened hospital.

New parking arrangements come into force today aimed at giving easier access to the University Hospital of North Durham.

Parking has been a major bug-bear for both the hospital workforce and visitors in recent months, since the first phase of the £98m hospital development came into use.

Patients and visitors wishing to park at the hospital are, from today, asked to gain access to the new car park, adjacent to the complex, via the entrance on Southfield Way, off the A691 Durham to Lanchester road.

The new parking area is considered more conveniently located alongside the recently opened hospital buildings, most of which is now in use following the transfer of facilities from the adjoining Dryburn Hospital, on the same site.

It will avoid the long walk which many patients have had to endure from the old car park at the bottom of the site, nearer the former hospital buildings.

Hospital facilities manager Carol Thorburn said the new car park will, temporarily, operate on a pay and display basis. But, in two months, a pay on exit system will come into force, reducing the worry for patients and visitors fearful that their ticket time may expire before they are ready to leave the premises.

"Although the hospital buildings are finished the new car park will not be completed until December 1," said Ms Thorburn.

"We have therefore decided to move patient and visitor parking to a more convenient location ahead of schedule.

"We hope that this measure will also help to relieve pressure on nearby residential streets where many patients and visitors have been parking."

As a result of the new car park coming into use, the south car park on the site will no longer be available for the general public.

The new car park features drop off bays, but with a strict 30 minute time limit for users.

Such has been the problem of parking in the vicinity of the new hospital that Durham County Council's highways committee has introduced an 18-month trial traffic order strictly limiting parking and waiting in nearby streets