A FURTHER 100 car parking spaces are being created at a hospital as part of its multi-million pound expansion.

Burnley General Teaching Hospital will gain the parking spaces on the front of its Lancashire Women’s and New Born Unit.

This comes as East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is building a £15million Ophthalmology and Out-Patients building at the site.

The state-of-the-art ophthalmology unit would centralise all services across East Lancashire at Burnley.

Andrew Stephenson, Pendle’s MP, welcomed the news after several concerns had contacted him about the difficulty of parking at the site in Casterton Avenue.

Mr Stephenson said the trust's chief executive, Kevin McGee, confirmed the parking spaces would be added following an appeal, and would be available for use by the middle of the year.

He said: “A number of Pendle residents visiting friends and relatives in Burnley Hospital raised their difficulty finding parking with me.

“Having visited several times myself, I agree there was a need for improvement. I am delighted to hear the leadership is already working to address this and welcome the 100 extra places that will be available soon.”

The site will also provide an updated maxillo-facial unit with laboratory for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the mouth, jaws, face, and neck, as well as including a new health records area with supporting ancillary services.

Burnley’s MP, Julie Cooper, the shadow health and social care minister, said: “This increase in car parking spaces is a really welcome first step to resolving a problem which constituents often raise with me at my advice surgeries; that of being unable to park at the hospital to attend appointments in Burnley.

“Obviously these additional car parking places are to cope with increased demand due to the expansion project so it remains to be seen whether the number will be sufficient to resolve the problems completely."

“Nevertheless it is good to see the trust recognising the difficulties and taking positive active to alleviate them.”

James Maguire, divisional general manager for estates and facilities for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust said: “Car parking availability and parking spaces are issues that patients and visitors to our sites often have concerns about.

“We acknowledge this and have been exploring ways to address these concerns.

“We are currently in the process of building a new £15M Ophthalmology and Out-Patients building on the Burnley General Teaching Hospital site.

“As part of the works and in line with our parking strategy, we are pleased to be able to expand the current parking footprint by creating a number of additional spaces.

“The strategy for parking on the Burnley site is to develop closer access car parking across the site. This approach enhances the patient experience by providing more easily accessible parking and relieves some of the stress traditionally associated with hospital visits.”