Taxpayers face a bill of more than £8 billion for new West Midlands hospitals worth less than a quarter as much.

Official Treasury figures show that health trusts are paying over the odds for new facilities.

Birmingham’s long-awaited new Queen Elizabeth Hospital will have an estimated capital value of £627 million when it is completed - but taxpayers will be left with a bill for £2.58 billion.

And the new Walsall Manor Hospital will be worth £169 million, but taxpayers will pay £652 million for it.

The huge financial burden is a result of the Private Finance Initiative, which is used by the Government to pay for the developments.

It allows private investors to pay for new hospital facilities in return for regular payments over years or decades. The payments represent the cost construction, servicing the site, financing costs, insurance and other costs, as well as a profit for the investors.

Supporters of the scheme say it has allowed major improvements in health services which could never have been afforded otherwise. Critics say it has left the NHS with massive debts which will have to be repaid in years to come.

* A new Ambulatory Care Centre at City Hospital in Birmingham, opened in 2002, has a capital value of £26 million, but payments will continue until 2034 and come to a total of £138 million.

* New mental health service facilities opened by Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust in Selly Oak have a capital value of £18 million but the trust is due to continue making repayments until 2033 and will eventually pay £253 million.

* Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust has built a new district general hospital in Hereford with a capital value of £64 million. It is due to continue making payments until 2032, and will eventually pay £464 million.

* The creation of a new state-of-the-art hospital in Edgabston, replacing the old Queen Elizabeth Hospital, is the most expensive NHS project in the country outside London.

The new facilities, run by University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust and Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust, will have a capital value of £627 million but taxpayers will be paying for it until 2045 - and will eventually fork out £2.58 billion.

* A new radiology unit at Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS trust will have a capital value of £13 million. Repayments will continue until 2033, and come to a total of £130 million.

* The new Walsgrave District Hospital in Coventry will have a capital value of £379 million, but payments will continue until 2041 and come to an amazing £3.28 billion.

* The redeveloped Walsall Manor Hospital in Walsall will have a capital value of £169 million. Payments will continue until 2043 and come to £652 million.

* Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is building a new District General Hospital with an estimated capital value of £87 million. Payments will continue until 2031, and the total cost will be £900 million.

Across the West Midlands, the total value of the projects is £1.383 billion - while the eventual cost to the taxpayer is £8.397 billion.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb, who uncovered the figures, said: “We’re entering into one of the most difficult financial periods in the NHS’s history and this Government’s legacy will be a mountain of debt.

“Despite the enormous amounts of money we owe for these hospitals, many of them will never end up in public ownership. Hospitals all over the country are mortgaged to the hilt and there are serious concerns that these repayments will lead to cuts in vital services. We need a new approach to public services in this country.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “The cost to the public sector of undertaking long term capital investment has always been spread over a number of years - PFI is no different. All PFI schemes must demonstrate that they are good value for money and affordable when compared with the public funding alternative.

“Thanks to PFI, we have been able to undertake the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the NHS, opening the 100th scheme in October 2008 - two years before our NHS Plan deadline of 2010.”

He added: “PFI payments involve not just the basic construction cost but also building maintenance and often support services such as cleaning, catering, and portering over the life of the contract.”