New car parking arrangements are being brought in at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn - in a bid to make life easier for patients and visitors.

Some 250 spaces will now be reserved for patients and visitors, with attendants on hand at busy times for the first two weeks to guide drivers to vacant parking bays.

Hospital staff will not be allowed to park in them. Grass verges around the car parks will also be fenced off, to stop people parking on them.

The changes are included in the first wave of improvements to make hospital parking easier for outpatients and visitors and to make better use of space.

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, spaces reserved for patients and visitors will be marked-out in blue in an area closest to the hospital in the main car park.

At the same time, fencing will be completed around the hospital site to prevent parking on woodland and grassed areas.

The changes come into force from September 3. Work is ceing carried out over the Bank Holiday weekend to minimise dsiruption.

Hospital bosses say changes are needed to existing parking arrangements on site before any application for planning permission in the future for changes and improvements to the main car park - which could include building a multi-storey car park on part of the site.

If the plan went ahead, a condition of planning permission would be to demonstrate that everything possible has been done to make the best use of available space on the rest of the site.

Barbara Cummings, the hospital's director of non-clinical services and performance management, said: 'We understand how frustrating it can be for someone to arrive in good time for a hospital appointment and then to have to spend valuable time searching for a parking space.

'At busy times we will ensure that staff are on duty in the car park to help visitors find somewhere to park.'

A major change affecting nearly 200 hospital staff also takes effect in September, when staff living within a 25-minute walk of the hospital will have their automatic right to an annual parking permit, entitling them to subsidised parking, withdrawn.

This forms part of the hospital's wider transport policy, which includes encouraging staff to walk, cycle or car-share on their journey to and from work where possible, to reduce the number of cars travelling to and from the Gayton Road site.