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Midland Met Hospital: £350 million site to be finished nearly a year later than planned

Sandwell's new £350 million 'super hospital' will be completed almost a year later than originally planned, it can be revealed.

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The Midland Metropolitan Hospital has been hit with several delays since construction started in Smethwick.

Construction giant Carillion, which is building the hospital, has now admitted work will not be completed until the end of June 2019 - 11 months later than was originally planned.

The latest setback means the opening of the huge new hospital has again been put back.

'Engineering difficulties' - mostly the fitting of pipes and wiring - have been one of the main reasons for the delay.

Sandwell health chiefs said they were working to 'identify and understand the impact and consequences of the delay'.

The Midland Met was originally due to open in autumn 2018 but, to the frustration of NHS trust chiefs, had to be put back by six months to spring 2019.

At the time Toby Lewis, chief executive of the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital Trust, which will run the new hospital, insisted he was confident it would be the only delay on the project rather than ‘the first of several’.

But it will now be the middle of summer before building work on the hospital is complete.

The hospital is under construction

When the Midland Met does open, it will become the main hospital in the borough, with services at Sandwell General and City Hospital to be scaled down.

A report to the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital Trust board said: "Carillion issued the trust with a revised Schedule 9 variation which confirmed that the forecast date for practical completion of the Midland Met Hospital would be the June 24, 2019. A delay of 11 months from the original contract date.

"Ongoing work is commencing to identify and understand the impact and consequences of the delay."

The latest delay comes following months of crisis at Wolverhampton firm Carillion, but trust bosses have insisted there is no risk of the Midland Met not being completed.

After being asked at a recent board meeting whether Carillion’s financial woes could put the completion of the new hospital in danger, Toby Lewis, trust chief executive Toby Lewis said the company had ‘financial governance’ in place and that he ‘felt confident that they will meet obligations for the next two years’.