Final patients moved out of historic city hospital

Dr Pankaj Kumar was the last patient to be transferred out of City Hospital

Emergency and acute care at a 130-year-old Birmingham hospital has ended after the final inpatients were transferred to a new super hospital in the city.

The A&E unit at City Hospital on Dudley Road closed at 05:00 GMT on Sunday, followed two hours later by the start of the final move of patients to the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in Smethwick.

The final patient to leave was Pankaj Kumar, an A&E doctor at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust which runs the sites. He is currently being treated for pneumonia, and was applauded out of the old hospital and into the new one.

City Hospital, which opened as an infirmary in 1897, will now be known as City Health Campus, providing services including outpatient appointments and short stay surgery.

With the transfer of inpatients complete, Midland Metropolitan University Hospital was now a fully operational acute hospital, said Sir David Nicholson, chairman of Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust.

"In our three moves, we have safely transferred over 300 patients, from three-hour-old babies to a 97-year-old," he said.

The process had been "very successful" due to the "meticulous planning" involved, he added.

Dr Kumar, who has worked at the trust for 18 years, said being the last inpatient to leave City Hospital was "symbolic and emotional".

People who had used A&E at City Hospital are now being told to go to Midland Metropolitan University Hospital for emergency care, or to Summerfield Urgent Treatment Centre for minor illnesses and conditions.