New Midland Metro super hospital finally set to open

A new super hospital has started to open its doors having previously been slated to open in spring of 2023, already some years behind schedule

The new A&E department at the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in Smethwick has opened, with the department at West Bromwich’s Sandwell Hospital closing. About 300 Sandwell patients will be transferred to the new building.

Patients at City Hospital in Birmingham should continue to use the A&E at that site until it closes on 10 November.

The new hospital will have 700 beds, a purpose-built A&E with dedicated children’s assesment unit and separate adult and children’s wards. Half of the beds will be in a single ensuite room.

“By closing Sandwell Hospital A&E and City Hospital A&E, we are bringing two emergency departments together to provide more specialists under one roof,” the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust said.

The Trust also posted a photo on the social media site X on Sunday morning, showing senior nurses who were “helping to transfer patients safely” from Sandwell Hospital.

Maternity patients from City Hospital will be transferred on 6 November with the final day of transfers taking place on 10th November.

WMAS Head of Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response James Williams, said: “A lot of hard work has gone into this project over the last nine months to ensure we are fully prepared to transfer patients to the new hospital.”

The total cost of the new hospital is expected to be about £750m.

Work 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.