Questions have been asked as to the exact date when a multi-million pound car park in Dorchester will be open to the public.

Dorset County Hospital's brand new car park partially opened to staff on September 1. At the time it was said patients and visitors would be able to access the site in the coming weeks.

Now the Dorset County Hospital Foundation Trust says the plan is to 'officially' open the premises to the public 'next month'.

Technical issues with the barrier and payment system have meant the seven-floor car park remains open to staff only.

The car park, which Dorset County Hospital is operating on a 30 year lease, has a maximum capacity of 654 spaces with capacity to expand to 68 electric vehicle charging points.

Parking charges remain in place upon the full opening, including for staff, and will be used to off-set the cost of the lease.

Dorset County Hospital Foundation Trust said that charges for staff had to be re-introduced as they no longer receive central funding from the Government that allowed them to subsidise staff parking.

In the year 2020-21, parking charges accounted for an annual revenue of £725,000 for the Trust: with data from NHS Digital showing staff parking charges totalled £342,586.

DCHFT said they aimed to move to a progressive charging system which would see 'staff in lower paid roles paying less as part of a tiered payment system'.

A spokesperson for Dorset County Hospital said: “The multi-storey car park (MSCP) has opened to staff and will open soon to patients and visitors once we have resolved some final technical issues with the barrier system.

“With the MSCP open to staff, the surface parking areas have been freed up for patients and visitors, and everyone is finding it much easier to park on the hospital site now.

“Building the MSCP has freed up land elsewhere on the hospital site so we can now forge ahead with our plans to expand the Emergency Department and Critical Care Unit as part of the New Hospitals Programme.”

Until the full opening of the new multi-storey car park, the surface parking around the hospital site next to the North, South and East Wings will be designated for patients and visitors only so public users are able to park much more easily close to the main entrances.