Staff impressed by new £750m super hospital

Work on the super hospital began in 2016, but was hit by delays

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.

A National Audit Office report put the likely cost of building and running the hospital for the first 30 years at nearly £1bn.

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

The first patients are expected to arrive in early October

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."

“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," he said.

"What has really changed for staff now is getting on-site and seeing it."

Staff were now "really looking forward" to working there, he added.

Hospital staff have been looking around the new hospital

Dr Macwana also approved of the new building and said: "At the moment we are 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.”

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.