But NHS Tayside chairman Peter Bates stressed nobody needed to pay more than the standard charge of £1.50 a visit. The £15 charge was a “disincentive”.

The higher charges will only be incurred by those who choose to stay beyond four hours in car parks five and six closest to the hospital entrance.

The measures are being introduced to protect spaces closest to the hospital for patients attending appointments and reduce long stay parking there.

At today’s meeting of the board of NHS Tayside at Kings Cross Hospital, Dundee, the recommendations did not meet with universal acceptance but were passed by a majority.

Non executive member Iain Wightman and Dr Bob Rosbottom disassociated themselves with the recommendation to introduce charging for disabled drivers, something Dr Rosbottom stated was “completely unacceptable”.

Members of the board considered a report drawn up by an independent group chaired by Bill Spence, the retired chief constable of Tayside Police, asked to offer possible solutions to parking problems on the Ninewells site and then leave the board members to make decisions.

At the end of the day, both the Spence report and health chiefs agreed the recommendations were a solution to better manage parking in the short term but there was simply not enough parking on the site to meet demand.

NHS Tayside’s chief operating officer Gerry Marr said a survey of the car parks showed 15 patients were “chasing” every parking space at Ninewells. He said that was better than other major hospitals across Scotland but there was undoubtedly pressure that had to be resolved.

Mr Marr said that, under the current arrangements, car parks five and six, supposed to be for patients and visitors only, were being filled up early with long stay parkers.

The survey found that by the time patients started, only 25% of the spaces in car park five were available.

The situation in car park six was even worse with only 15% of spaces available.

Mr Marr said introducing a four-hour maximum wait to these two car parks would lead to all spaces becoming available three or four times a day.

He explained that “compassionate parking” when some patients requiring frequent access to the hospital, such as those undergoing treatment for cancer and kidney failure, were given “fobs” to get out of car parks without paying, would be extended to more people.

Murray Petrie, chairman of NHS Tayside Delivery Unit that has direct responsibility for running Ninewells, said he did not believe creating more parking on the site was “an option”.

A chartered surveyor by profession, Mr Petrie said current planning ethos was to design for people not cars.

Part of the solution was efficient public transport with timetables that suited hospital clinic times.

The main changes are:—

— Car-parks five and six (nearest to hospital) becoming designated short-stay parking for patients and visitors only, with a four-hour standard charge. These car-parks can be used later by staff working night shift.

— More patients benefiting from a compassionate free-of-charge permit which will be allocated to patients who must attend hospital frequently over an extended period of time.

— The introduction of the four-hour standard charge to the existing disabled parking spaces closest to the hospital entrance (car park seven), in line with other patients attending hospital.

— The introduction of a four-hour standard charge in the car park at Accident and Emergency.

— Six emergency ‘set-down’ spaces created at the Accident and Emergency entrance to make sure people attending A&E in a real emergency don’t have to find a car park space before entering the hospital.

These changes will be phased in over a six-month period starting in June this year, with a full review following the introduction of all the proposals.