DISTRAUGHT patients are missing appointments because they can’t find parking spaces at Torbay Hospital and nearby residential streets are ‘at full capacity’, it is claimed.

Now the hospital trust has been urged to do more to cope with the demand for parking as it begins work on a full-scale rebuild.

Members of Torbay Council planning committee gave their unanimous backing to an application for a new four-storey breast care unit which will be part of a 10-year rebuild for which the previous government pledged funding.

They also had questions about parking, staff accommodation and the amount of solar panels planned, but no-one from the healthcare trust was at the meeting to answer them.

A number of existing buildings will be knocked down to make way for the new structure.

The site, to the south west of the hospital campus, is currently home to a number of old buildings that are no longer needed.

The majority of the existing buildings are three-storey residential units for staff which date from the 1980s.

One council officer said the proposal represented ‘a betterment of existing facilities’.

Twenty car parking spaces will be lost as a result of the building, but the same number will be provided on a ‘like for like’ basis elsewhere.

Cllr Katya Maddison said: 'The hospital’s expansion is a good news story, but parking in Shiphay isn’t.

‘We can expect more staff, more patients and more visitors. Local streets are already at capacity.’

Cllr Mandy Darling added; ‘It is excellent we are going to see our services improved, but it would be remiss of us not to talk about the concerns we have about parking.

‘Patients have been absolutely distraught because they can’t find parking spaces and have missed appointments. Everybody has struggled with parking.’

Members were told the trust was considering a new multi-storey car park on the site, and a park and ride service.

Cllr Mike Fox summed up: ‘We want this to go ahead as quickly as possible but we are also mindful of the concerns of residents in that area over the inadequacy of current parking.’