HEALTH bosses have revealed that an expanded "super-hospital" being built under the Government's controversial private finance initiative will have fewer beds than the hospitals it replaces.

Work is well under way to double the size of the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, allowing the closure of Middlesbrough General Hospital and the town's North Riding Infirmary.

Health union Unison said the failure to increase bed numbers at James Cook was a missed opportunity at a time of expanding health demand.

Yesterday's confirmation that the revamped hospital will have fewer beds echoes the row over the new PFI hospital at Durham.

When the £96m University Hospital of North Durham opened two years ago, acute bed numbers were reduced from 514 to 492. This had an immediate impact on services, leading to a merger with the new £67m Bishop Auckland Hospital to address a chronic shortage of beds.

When it opens after a massive £165m revamp, the new Middlesbrough hospital will have 1,035 acute beds.

This is five fewer than the current acute bed totals at the three old hospitals.

Health chiefs say the new hospital will offer high quality care from a modern and more efficient site.

Paul Willetts, assistant director of planning for South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, stressed that the end-product would be "the largest hospital of its type in Europe".

Unusually, the large new hospital will have a complete range of medical specialties.

But Dave Armstrong, regional officer for Unison, said: "Here we go again. We have another new PFI hospital where the NHS will end up with fewer beds than before."