Agonising wait over for Queen Elizabeth Hospital as Treasury gives PFI scheme the green light.

The largest new hospital PFI project outside London - the £559m Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham - has finally been given the green light by The Treasury.

The Balfour Beatty-led consortium will get the official nod of approval from prime minister Tony Blair and health secretary Patricia Hewitt this morning at a health summit at Downing Street.

The project, which is the second to receive the go ahead from the government after St Barts in east London, will not be scaled back and will go ahead as designed by architect BDP. The Trust previously feared that the super hospital would be pared back, which would have cost an extra £49m for a redesign.

The news comes after the University Hospital Birmingham Trust spent an agonising few months waiting from a decision from the government. Last week, officials from The Treasury visited the Trust to examine their finances.

Julie Moore, the Trust's chief opersations director, said: "This new facility is absolutely needed to provide 21st Century care to patients."