Midland Metropolitan Hospital may need an extra floor because of fears over beds shortage

A review will be carried out in order to find out if the hospital, which is being built in Smethwick, will be suitable when it is due to open in autumn 2018, it has been revealed in a new report.

If it is found more space is needed, work would have to start on a new floor which would not be ready until 2020.

It would be a costly move for health bosses, who said having to take the decision would represent a 'major capital variation', and would come a as a blow as it was hoped the new hospital would be operating at full capacity by the end of 2018. The review is due to be carried out in the spring.

Toby Lewis, chief executive of the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, which will run the Midland Met, said the review would look to find out if the new hospital was on 'bed trajectory'.

Another option would be to use empty wards at Sandwell General, which is due to be scaled down when the new hospital opens.

In a report to board members, Mr Lewis said: "The board is aware that in spring 2017 a review will be conducted, commissioned by us, to confirm whether we are on 'bed trajectory' for Midland Met in October 2018.

"If that review concluded that there was a long-term problem, we would need to implement a major capital variation to build out floor nine of the hospital. This would take until early 2020 to complete.

"If the review concluded a more temporary 'miss' we would need to bring into use the empty wards on floor two at Sandwell."

Mr Lewis said either solution would be undesirable.

He added that there was an 'absence' of a 'coherent demand management strategy' which he was working with partners to address.

As it stands, the adult wards would be on the sixth, seventh and eighth floors. While a ninth and tenth floor will be built, they were only meant to be for 'expansion and engineering space' to be used in future years.

The Midland Met, which has been dubbed Sandwell's 'super hospital', is one of the largest construction projects to have ever been carried out in the Black Country.

It is hoped the new site will transform medical care in the borough.

Work got under way last year and scheme is making rapid progress.

The new hospital is expected to have 670 beds and 15 operation theatres, as well as brand-new diagnostic equipment.

Its A&E will replace emergency care facilities at City Hospital, while Sandwell's General's A&E will become an urgent care centre.

The Midland Met is being built on a 16-acre site by Wolverhampton-based construction giant Carillion at Grove Lane in Smethwick.

The hospital will provide maternity, children's and inpatient adult services to an estimated half a million people.

Hospital bosses came under fire last year over the planning of the Midland Met.

John Lister, a former consultant with more than 30 years experience in the NHS, conducted an independent review into the project and flagged up a number of concerns - including that it would be too small.

He also claimed it was being built in the wrong place and would mean the loss of hundreds of jobs to help pay for it, labelling it a 'long-term liability'.

Mr Lister said his research showed the hospital would have 135 fewer beds across the Sandwell and West Birmingham area it would serve when it opens in 2018, though his claims were dismissed by hospital chiefs.