PEOPLE attending Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital are being advised to use a free bus or city centre car park - after a new building project caused traffic chaos yesterday.

Part of the car park in front of the hospital has been closed for the start of work on a £1 million medical admissions unit.

But people attending outpatient appointments claim they knew nothing of the restrictions until they turned up to find no spaces available.

One man, taking his elderly father to the fracture clinic for ongoing treatment of a broken leg, told the Argus they faced a lengthy walk after finding parking spaces barred.

He claimed that only after threatening a complaint was his father taken to the clinic in wheelchair.

Another woman, who did not wish to be named, had to park in a city centre car park and walk back for her outpatient appointment.

"This has come without warning and it's not good enough. There's traffic backed up to the police station trying to get in, and there are plenty of people who will struggle because of this," she said.

A Gwent Healthcare Trust spokesman apologised for any inconvenience and confusion.

"We would encourage people to use city centre car parks or the free bus," he said.

Work on the medical assessment unit is expected to take six months.

The unit, which should open by the end of September, will receive emergency medical patients referred to the hospital by their GP and will play a vital role in cutting the amount of time patients have to wait to be seen and controlling emergency medical admissions.

Further disruption may be in store for people using the car park fronting the hospital off Cardiff Road, for the trust is also developing plans to build a new cardiology unit on the roof of the urology outpatients building.

Parking will be restricted for patients in certain areas and additional security personnel will be controlling access to parking and patient drop- off points.

* The free bus service to the hospital operates from the stand outside the drivers' office at the hospital end of the bus station.

Buses leave on the hour, 20 minutes past, and 20 minutes to the hour. The on-the-hour and 20 minutes past service go via St Woolos Hospital.