Hospital staff have threatened to go on strike or even quit over parking.

Managers at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath want to introduce a permit system for the staff car park next month.

They say the system will create more spaces for visitors and patients.

About 20 per cent of workers, 297 staff, have had permit requests turned down.

Mid Sussex Unison representative Mark Sargent said the scheme could result in people looking for work elsewhere.

He said: "We will take industrial action as a last resort. There are people who live in Uckfield, Newhaven and Lancing who have been refused permits and who can't get to work without a car.

"They have said they will have to find somewhere more local to work. We are struggling to recruit as it is and this just makes things worse."

It costs £6 per day to park in a visitors' car park near the hospital and staff fear taking public transport could cost even more.

Mid Sussex MP Nicholas Soames said: "I am extremely disturbed to hear of the anger and anxiety of many of the hard-working people at the Princess Royal who are finding parking a real trial and who in the future appear to be without a solution.

"It is not as if the public transport system is up to providing the kind of service that would enable people who work at the hospital, and indeed elsewhere, to find an easy way in.

"I have asked the chief executive of the hospital trust to re-examine the situation and to let me know what steps they might be able to take to improve the situation."

Hospital spokesman Ian Keeber said any staff member refused a permit could appeal against the decision.

He said: "There simply isn't sufficient car parking to always meet the needs of every person coming on to our premises.

"We therefore have to find some way of striking a balance. For every angry member of staff who feels they should have a permit we have a visitor or patient who feels they should be able to park quickly and conveniently when they visit our hospitals.

"If staff can justify an appeal they should make one as quickly as possible."

He insisted providing more parking spaces was not an option and said: "To spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on underground or multi-story car parking when we are short of cash would create more problems than it solves."