PATIENTS at a Winchester hospital are worried there will not be enough parking spaces when a £6m treatment centre opens.

The treatment centre, which is behind schedule, is being built at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Romsey Road.

A Patient and Public Involvement Forum (PPIF) due to meet on Thursday will discuss the problem of parking, particularly for the disabled, at the hilly site.

Shirley Keneally, chairman of the PPIF for the Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust (WEHT) which runs the hospital, wrote to health chiefs in December asking what provision would be put in place for parking on the site.

"I was concerned to hear there appears to be no provision for dropping patients off adjacent to or in front of the treatment centre, no dedicated parking for at least dropping off patients at the centre," the letter reads.

"The circuitous route patients are expected to take from the various car parks on this difficult, hilly site will present many people with extreme difficulties. That is supposing parking can be found."

Ms Kenneally said PPIF members wanted to know what involvement patients and the public have had in the development, what the expected number of vehicles for the centre was, and how hospital bosses thought users would get to the unit.

Last October the Daily Echo reported how the parking problem was so bad hospital bosses introduced compulsory parking permits for staff.

However, in a letter to the forum, bosses at WEHT say the issue of parking at the centre has been considered and measures put in place to ensure there are facilities outside, with 28 spaces and two dedicated disabled bays.

A spokesman added: "The treatment centre is for people requiring day surgery.

"In many cases these patients will be well enough to park at the usual car park and walk to the treatment centre.

"If, after their treatment, a friend or relative is driving their car home, they would be able to bring it to the current drop-off point outside the existing day surgery unit as there will be access to and from the treatment centre here."

She added that the trust had also worked very closely with the local authority in Winchester over parking, and in particular to show that the hospital would try to dissuade people from driving to the site if at all possible.

The PPIF will discuss the problem at a public meeting in Badger Farm Community Centre on Thursday at 7pm.

Hospital bosses confirmed the treatment centre is behind schedule, but no date for opening could be given. It was originally due to open at the end of 2004.