Patients still regularly treated in corridors at Wolverhampton New Cross A&E

And bosses at the hospital say patients will have to grin and bear the misery for another year, before a new £30 million Emergency Centre opens in November 2015.

The centre includes a badly-needed new A&E unit and good progress is being made, with a giant steel structure now towering over the Wednesfield site.

A £4m action plan last winter which included extra staff temporarily eased pressure on the overrun department.

But this summer has been one of the busiest on record, with an unexpected early bout of norovirus in August fuelling fears of a tough winter ahead.

David Loughton, chief executive of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, admitted the situation was 'horrendous' with staff continuously under huge pressure with high patient numbers unrelenting.

He said: "It's just horrendous. The whole system is broken.

"I don't think this winter's going to be particularly great. I can't remember us having norovirus as early as we did this year.

"We're trying to get too many patients through too small a bed number.

"Things got better when we added beds to A&E last year but a couple of months later patients were back on the corridors and it's happening all the time.

"It's just a case of bracing ourselves for the next year."

The burden will ease in the next couple of months, with a new ward opening in January.

And at the same time all non-emergency surgery is moving to Cannock Chase Hospital in controversial multi-million pound plans. That will free up space and staff at the hospital.

Mr Loughton added: "It will hopefully ease from January.

"We'll have a new ward opening in January too so things are being done, but this is the last winter we've got before the new A&E, which has been a boost for staff. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel."

The Emergency Centre will also include a walk-in centre and other primary care services.

Patients will be guided to the correct department upon arrival, with the centre based by the hospital's Heart and Lung Centre.

Cannock Hospital is currently being renovated with new facilities and operating theatres, which Mr Loughton said would be even better than those at New Cross, ahead of patients having surgery there in January.

Operations are frequently cancelled at New Cross – sometimes dozens on a single day – but there has not been a cancelled operation at Cannock since 2003.

Patients will get shuttle buses between the hospitals.