Queen Elizabeth Hospital 'to treat one million in 2015-16'

Almost 200 beds have been used at the old hospital site to cater for the rise in demand

A Birmingham hospital is expecting to treat one million patients in 2015-16 for the first time since it opened five years ago.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which moved to a new site in 2010, has 1,213 beds, 32 operating theatres and a 100-bed critical care unit.

About 630,000 patients were treated in its first 12 months, bosses said.

But to cope with increasing demand, about 170 beds have been opened at its former site over the past two years.

Andrew McKirgan, one of the hospital's directors, said capacity has been reached at both sites, which sit next to each other in Edgbaston.

He said: "We don't now actually have any more [beds] to open.

"We have got to be tackling it as a whole system across Birmingham, across health and social services to really understand how we can stop patients coming in and take patients out quicker."

The new Queen Elizabeth Hospital admitted its first patients in 2010

The old site closed in November 2010 but the trust has since had to invest in upgrading facilities there for the new patients. A second ambulatory care facility has also been opened along with two theatres.

Chief executive of the hospital Dame Julie Moore said some of the reasons for the demand are that the hospital is "remarkably popular", an aging population and the ability to treat more complex conditions as healthcare develops.

She added: "The policy of patients' choice means more and more patients can select to come here.

"Whilst we're glad about that popularity, we don't want to be so overwhelmed we cannot do the work which only we can do as a specialist hospital in the Midlands."

Queen Elizabeth Hospital stats:

• The £545m hospital opened on 16 June 2010

• Run by the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, it is recognised as one of the leading hospitals in Europe

• It is a regional centre for cancer, trauma, renal dialysis, burns and plastics and has the largest solid organ transplantation programme in Europe

• The trust employs more 8,500 staff

• The hospital is the UK's first and only National Institute for Health Research Centre for Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology

• It has been one of the UK's 22 major trauma centres since last March