Sandwell super hospital to open in spring 2024

The current estimated price tag of almost £1bn is nearly three times the original budget

A new West Midlands "super hospital" is to open to patients in 2024, some six years behind schedule.

Work on the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH) in Sandwell ground to a halt with the collapse of construction giant Carillion in 2018.

It also suffered further setbacks with the onset of the pandemic.

When completed, the new hospital will have more than 700 beds, 11 operating theatres and an emergency unit. It will also host 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

In 2020, the trust said it expected the hospital to open this year although building costs were set to almost double from the original £350m.

According to the National Audit Office, about £709m of the now estimated £998m cost will be met by the taxpayer.

The trust said contractor Balfour Beatty had been working on the project since 2019 and patients were expected to be treated there from spring 2024.

Trust chairman Sir David Nicholson said both parties had been "determined" to get the project completed.

"I am delighted that we have reached this stage in the development and are able to confirm with confidence that we will open as soon as possible following completed construction of the building, which will be handed over to the trust before the end of 2023," he said.

The hospital, originally called Midland Metropolitan Hospital, will also be a centre of excellence for clinical care and research, and collaborate with higher education establishments in Birmingham and Wolverhampton and Aston Medical School.