Bosses at Carlisle's hospital say there are plans to help ease its parking problems.

Installing new car parking machines that accept credit card payments is among the changes it is hoped will be introduced at the Cumberland Infirmary later this year.

The North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust spoke out as a leading motoring organisation called on more to be done to improve parking at England's hospitals, to help ease the stress of patients.

A spokeswoman for North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Cumberland Infirmary and Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital, said: "The trust is continuing to look at ways to improve the experience of car parking at our hospitals, and there are plans in place to order new car parking machines this year which will provide credit card payment options for patients and visitors."

The aim is also to introduce barriers so people can pay when they leave the hospital, instead of having to pay when they arrive.

Parking at the Cumberland Infirmary has come under increasing criticism following a series of high-profile situations where patients have received penalties.

The RAC found that a third of NHS trusts do not allow people to pay for parking on exiting a hospital, leaving people guessing how long they need to stay for.

Patients and visitors must carry loose change for parking at four out of 10 hospitals, its data shows.

The RAC collected data under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) from 164 out of 206 hospital trusts in England, of whom 125 charged for parking.

Some 38 per cent - 47 trusts - had no option to pay by credit or debit card at any of their sites, while 32 per cent - 40 trusts - do not allow drivers to pay on exit. Only a third of trusts allowed people to pay by card at all of their hospital sites.

One in three hospitals allow people to pay on exit, while a further 28 per cent had this on some sites.

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: "Anyone arriving at hospital, be they a patient or visitor, have far more important things to worry about than paying for parking.

"It is for that reason things should be made as stress-free as possible - and that includes taking the pain out of paying to park.

"These figures show that in many cases it is still too difficult for people to pay to park when they make a visit to a hospital in England."

The arrival of the new £1 coin should provide many with a "good opportunity" to introduce more ways to pay, he added.

Hospital parking in Wales and Scotland is largely free but patients in England pay.

Health minister Lord O'Shaughnessy said: "Patients and families should not have to deal with the added stress of complex and unfair parking charges.

"NHS organisations are locally responsible for the methods used to charge, and we want to see them coming up with flexible options that put patients and their families first."