A demolition project at Wirral’s biggest hospital will lead to the provision of a further 150 parking spaces for patients and visitors.

A former accommodation block at Arrowe Park Hospital is being flattened to make way for the extra parking area, which is likely to be in use by the end of the year.

The proposal – still subject to planning approval – will be conveniently located for patients and visitors accessing the hospital’s main entrance, emergency department and all-day health centre.

David Allinson, chief executive of the NHS Wirral University Teaching Hospital, said: “It really brought home what a big space C Block has been occupying and how useful this will soon become as additional car parking for people visiting Arrowe Park Hospital.

“we want to make visiting our hospitals on Wirral as easy as possible for patients and visitors.

“Improving our car parking provision is a major contribution in achieving that.”

The hospital currently has around 600 patient and parking spaces. It is one of the few large acute hospitals in England to offer some free parking alongside its pay car parks.

Hospital parking fees have been attacked as “a tax on the sick” in recent years and calls have been made for NHS parking to be free, as in most of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Health ministers say making parking free would mean taking £100m from the NHS budget.

C Block was built in the 1980s to provide staff accommodation. More recently it was used for administration staff.

The building is no longer in use and the Trust decided that the site could be used more effectively as a car park.