A new level of parking looks set to be added to Tunbridge Wells Hospital.

Patients and staff have struggled to find spaces at the site, which only opened to the public in 2011.

To battle ongoing issues, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has applied for planning permission to add a new deck at the northern end of the grounds in Pembury.

It would house 174 staff parking spaces.

Tunbridge Wells Hospital has 512 beds and employs around 2,700 people. There are 447 parking spots for visitors and 818 for staff.

This application would bring the total amount of parking spaces up to 1,439.

An application submitted on behalf of MTW NHS Trust reveals patients are having to park on footpaths, on the hospital's access road and park in the middle of traffic.

The application reads: "When the design team of Stripe Consulting visited the site on Wednesday, January 8, the on site car parks were full.

Gallery1

"From conversations with the trust's parking team we understand that this unauthorised parking is the result of either patients risking to miss their appointments or staff having spent too much time looking for a parking space and running late."

The application to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council appears to have some inaccuracies though.

It wrongly claims the hospital was chosen to be one of three Hyper Acute Stroke Units in Kent in 2018, and it is "the cancer centre for the whole Kent area".

In both cases Stripe Consulting has confused Tunbridge Wells Hospital with Maidstone Hospital.

That's most likely because it submitted a separate, similar application to expand staff parking at Maidstone by an extra 211 spaces.

A Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust spokesman said: "Providing additional parking for our patients and visitors across our sites is a priority for us. We have put together detailed proposals to provide additional car parking spaces at both Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone Hospital and are working with local authorities and planners to deliver solutions.

"Planning applications for both sites have been submitted and it is anticipated these additional car parking spaces will be completed by the end of March this year."

Read more: All the latest news from Tunbridge Wells.