Selly Oak Hospital may soon offer a specialised military treatment unit where wounded British soldiers can be treated with comrades, the Government suggested yesterday.

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram said the Government was trying to find the "best solution" to mixed public and military wards.

He was responding to shadow defence secretary Dr Liam Fox who said the issue was not simply about units being managed by the military, but about personnel being treated alongside civilians.

In a Commons debate on defence, Mr Ingram said there were staffing issues but the "train had left the station" and any solution was likely to be at Selly Oak in Birmingham.

Selly Oak is a large hospital with ties to the local university medical school and has a specialist unit to treat casualties from war zones. It is staffed by NHS and military medics.

Mr Ingram said the decision to locate treatment to Selly Oak and close military hospitals was described by the service medical community as the "right approach".

He said: "Having seen the excellence of the facilities and having spoken to staff and patients, I am convinced they are right."

Mr Ingram said: "It's certainly ruled in and it's not ruled out. It is how we then transit to that because there are staffing and obviously issues to be addressed as part of that.

"It has to be located somewhere."