The RVH site is regarded as the most challenging location to implement the free car parking legislation, and the issue has not been settled just weeks before the law was due to go ahead.
Belfast Health Trust said there had been a strategy group which included staff representatives and healthcare unions, but the difficulties at the RVH meant there was “a lot of uncertainty around the permit process”.
The trust’s Claire McMahon told Stormont’s health committee that a strategy which had worked at Belfast City Hospital, could not be replicated at the Royal, where it was “very challenging”.
She said there were more than 4,000 staff members who “would wish to drive their car and bring it to the Royal site”.
“We are never going to have a solution that would meet everyone’s needs – it would be less than half of that (staff parking permits) available,” she said.