A new £750m hospital which will open in the coming weeks "is brilliant", staff have said after touring the facility.
The Midlands Metropolitan University Hospital in Smethwick is due to open to the public on 6 October, six years later than originally planned. It will have more than 730 beds, an emergency department and maternity unit.
Consultant paediatrician Dr Nick Macwana said: "We’ve got so much more space here and that makes a massive difference in delivering the care that we want to deliver." Work on the hospital started in 2016 and it was expected to open in October 2019 at a cost of about £350m, but the collapse of the original contractor, Carillion, rising material costs, the withdrawal of government funding and a shortage of construction workers all added to the delays.
Work on the site was beset by difficulties, with the collapse of construction firm Carillion in 2018 and then the Covid pandemic. A National Audit Office report put the likely cost of building and running the hospital for the first 30 years at nearly £1bn.
When the new hospital on Grove Lane opens, staff and services will move from City Hospital in Dudley Road and Sandwell General Hospital in West Bromwich to the site at Grove Lane. The two existing sites will then be used for most outpatient, day case and diagnostic treatments with Sandwell General Hospital in West Bromwich becoming an urgent treatment centre.
Michael Brennan, the new hospital’s accident and emergency matron said staff had been sceptical about the move. "I think everyone was not sure but then they’ve got here and think it is brilliant,” he said.
“We’ve had a number of delays over the last couple of years and we were still quite pessimistic up until a couple of months ago. What has really changed for staff now is getting on-site and seeing it, and they are now really looking forward to working there.”
Dr Macwana also approved of the new building saying: "We’re now spread across two sites and that makes it really difficult for us to try and keep those covered all the time. The fact that we are bringing both teams together will just be amazing for them.” The new hospital will have more than 700 beds, 11 operating theatres, an emergency unit and maternity services. Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust will continue to provide out-patient clinics, day-surgery and routine diagnostics at Sandwell and City Hospital sites.
The total cost of the hospital is expected to be in excess of £988m, £300m more than originally planned.