Latest news with #MidlandMetropolitanUniversityHospital
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What's happening to major Birmingham hospital site six months after closure
When Birmingham's City Hospital closed its doors for the final time last November, some feared it would bring an end to 130 years of operations at the major hospital site. All emergency and acute services from City Hospital were transferred to the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in Smethwick, dubbed the £1bn 'super hospital', and the last in-patient, Trust doctor Dr Pankaj Kumar, was wheeled out to an applause in November 2024. Motorists passing by the Dudley Road health landmark now are greeted with an empty car park and signs saying the hospital is closed - but there is still activity at the site, despite parts of it being earmarked for housing. READ MORE: How Birmingham's City Hospital site could be transformed into 'vibrant' new community Get breaking news on BirminghamLive WhatsApp , click the link to join Six months on from City Hospital closing, we asked Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust what exactly is happening with the site and if patients in Birmingham can still expect to use it. The answer in short is yes - a number of outpatient services continue to run behind the now defunct A&E site. The site and its remaining operations were renamed the City Health Campus last year - and can be used for select, non-urgent treatment. Housing plans still look to go ahead, but the city's sick can still access help at the site, which opened as an infirmary in 1897 as an extension to the workhouse. As for the future, the site has outline planning permission for 750 homes, including the conversion of the historic infirmary frontage into apartments. A detailed planning application with the specifics of the development is expected this year. CGIs released in January offer a glimpse of how the former City Hospital site could be transformed into a 'vibrant' new community, with artist impressions show wildflower patches and green parks in front of apartments with balconies. Back in January, Developer Vistry Group said it had exchanged contracts with Homes England, the government's housing agency, to deliver the regeneration. Read more on those plans, here. Residents previously using A&E at City Hospital are now sent to the Midland Metropolitan site if they have life-threatening conditions which require emergency care. However, some operations remain at the old City Hospital site, and those who are first sent to Midlands Metropolitan A&E might find themselves receiving aftercare at what is now the City Health campus. You can use the City Health Campus, which housed the former City Hospital, for the following: The site will continue to operate outpatient appointments and short stay surgery at the Birmingham Treatment Centre Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre will deliver inpatient, outpatient and surgical services at the site The Sheldon Block building will house rehabilitation, therapy services and community medicine Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust told us that some services are unaffected by planned development. A spokesperson from Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust told BirminghamLive: 'City Health Campus offers a range of outpatient appointments, day case surgery, diagnostic services including the audiology department and community rehabilitation services. "Also remaining on the site is the Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre. These services are unaffected by the redevelopment of the former City Hospital buildings. "The accident and emergency department, maternity services and inpatient wards which were once based at City Hospital have since been relocated to the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital. "For more information about the services being offered go to
BBC News
24-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Covid pandemic remembered: West Midlands medics reflect on experiences
"We were dealing with death, death in the droves, death of young people and death of our colleagues."Five years ago, as the UK went into lockdown and the world was gripped by the coronavirus pandemic, Dr Sarb Clare was on the front line for the in the West Midlands in Sandwell and west Birmingham, she said it was "incredibly tough" as "we didn't know what was coming"."There was a lot of death that we saw. But we also saw great team spirit, the spirit of the NHS and also the art of the possible," Dr Clare added. She was among NHS staff reflecting as a new critical care unit opened at the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in Smethwick, replacing those at Sandwell and City back to 2020, senior sister Laura Harman described the pandemic as "the most challenging time in my career" and one in which staff were dealing with "fear of the unknown"."We were under immense pressure, working in fear, we were working harder and being stretched more than we ever had been previously," she said."I definitely experienced anxiety working through that period." Ms Harman had to move out of her family home as one of her household was vulnerable and she said that left her without a place to relax and enjoy company away from work."Everything was turned upside down and everything was difficult and that was a really anxiety inducing time," she added."I definitely witnessed nurses having panic attacks when they were required to put their personal protective equipment (PPE) on."People were sick, people were having panic attacks, people would put their mask on and then just have to remove their PPE immediately because of the panic it was causing them to feel." Dr Clare said it was especially tough given the area around the hospital which she described as "the biggest deprived ward in the country"."They couldn't isolate, they had to work, they were our shopkeepers, our bus drivers, they were the ones who were serving us but yet they were coming in their generations – mums, kids, grandkids and dying," she said."That was the most heartbreaking and gut-wrenching and we've all been scarred from that." Critical care in the Sandwell and City hospitals was stretched to 350% of their usual capacity in 2020 during the pandemic and their area was one of the hardest hit in the country by Covid, according to the NHS trust running matron Noku Sileya, it was the team around her in the hospital which helped her get through the dread and fear she felt during the pandemic."You always felt that you fell short because you weren't doing the standard of care that you were used to," she said."My fellow nurses and colleagues, we were all going through the same so we were all able to relate and able to share our experiences and keep each other going."Ms Harman agreed it was staff "pulling together" which helped her."The level of teamwork that was exhibited was the best I've ever seen and I felt so privileged to pull together and work with people who were all in the same boat," she added. Despite the memories of five years ago still remaining vivid to many staff, they are positive about the say the new Midland Metropolitan hospital is much better equipped to cope in Jonathan Hulme, joint clinical lead in critical care, said the new unit would make a big difference with any future pandemic."These are our new isolation rooms and if we had people with particularly infectious diseases, they'd now come into the isolation rooms," he explained."Within Covid times, we didn't end up using individual rooms because so many people had it that we just turned a whole unit into a Covid intensive care unit."It was traumatic for a lot of the time - being frustrated that we didn't know what Covid was, that we didn't know that we had any effective treatments for it."So many of the patients who ended up with us in intensive care on a ventilator would die." A hospital gift Dr Clare, the hospital's deputy chief medical officer, was awarded an MBE for her services to the NHS and leadership during the said other parts of the site would also be vital in the future."What's brilliant is that 50% of our rooms are single, side rooms and that is absolutely vital," she said."If we had this during Covid a lot more people would have survived. We were working in Victorian hospitals."We've already tested this out during the winter. Obviously we've had a flu outbreak and what we noticed is that we didn't have a spike, we didn't have to shut down wards."Our staff were kept safe, we didn't have any increase in staff sickness, so it's working."Our people of Sandwell and west Birmingham deserve the best health care and now they have got it. This [new hospital] is the gift to them." Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
