Parking at a busy hospital is to be changed in response to demands from patients and staff.

A company has been running pay and display parking at Worthing Hospital but is switching to a pay on exit system.

Prices will stay the same but users will no longer have to buy a ticket and estimate how long they are going to need.

Staff will be able to buy season tickets for £180 a year and other users will have to pay 80p an hour or £1.40 for two hours on a sliding scale.

Staff at the hospital on Lyndhurst Road have complained that they found the parking situation at the hospital a financial burden which made working there much less attractive.

Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust chairman Stuart Heatherington said: "Users do not have to worry that they are running over time if attending a hospital appointment and you only pay for the time you are using the car park.

"The trust is keen that the car parking is seen to be managed, operated and maintained as fairly as possible.

"To provide free parking for staff and visitors is simply not possible, but I very much hope that the action we are proposing will be seen by the public as real evidence that we have listened and acted on their concerns."

If the measures are agreed at the trust's board meeting on Thursday, the new system is expected to be up and running by the end of the summer.