IN PICTURES: Glass and gardens for £353m Smethwick super hospital
A glimmering glass roof, floating sculptures, futuristic lighting and gardens for patients and visitors - this is the vision for the £353million 'super hospital' due to open its doors in the Black Country.
New artist impressions have been revealed showing how the modern complex in Smethwick could look when it welcomes its first patients by late 2018.
Offering bright and airy waiting areas, sky and winter gardens and the latest medical facilities, the 670-bed Midland Metropolitan Hospital will be built on a 16 acre site on Grove Lane and serve around 530,000 people living in Sandwell and West Birmingham.
Earlier this month bosses at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust lodged a business plan for the development with the Department of Health and HM Treasury.
The scheme is set for final approval by the end of next month, which will pave the way for a planning application to be submitted to Sandwell Council.
Chief executive Toby Lewis said: "The new hospital is unequivocally not about new facilities for aesthetic reasons – we need to get emergency care - not just A&E, but critical care, older people's physicians, children's services - onto a seven day multi speciality basis and the only route to that safety and quality change is a single site."
He added: "Trust clinicians have worked incredibly hard in the last nine months to design a human but efficient hospital. I hope that that effort meets with public approval and support, and that important design touches about how the building sits in our community and the surrounding landscape find favour and support."
It is hoped the hospital development will also act as a catalyst for the wider regeneration of Smethwick.
Earlier this month bosses at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust lodged a business plan for the development with the Department of Health and HM Treasury.
The scheme is set for final approval by the end of next month, which will pave the way for a planning application to be submitted to Sandwell Council by the hospital trust and its proposed development partner Carillion.
The hospital will offer a high-tech critical care unit as well as dedicated neonatal, paediatric beds, coronary care, adult acute assessment units. It will also provide 13 operating theatres, 12 maternity delivery suites and six birthing centres
There will also be MRI & CT scanners along with ultrasound facilities and outpatient clinics for maternity care and children.
Plans for the hospital will go on show at consultation events taking place at Queen's Square, West Bromwich, on June 3 at the CAP Centre, Smethwick, on June 4 at Rowley Regis Hospital and on June 5 and 6 at Sandwell Hospital. Sessions will run from 9am until 5pm.
Director of new hospital development, Alan Kenny, said: "This is an exciting stage in the development of the Midland Met Hospital. New designs are bringing this state of the art healthcare facility to life.
"I would urge people to come along to the exhibitions or view the proposals on our website and see what the plans will provide for our community."
The European Investment Bank is set to provide a £120 million loan, while the government will be giving £100 million towards the project costs.
The rest of the money will be raised from private investment.
As well building the new hospital, extra cash is also being spent to offer a wider range of clinics and facilities at Rowley Regis Hospital.
A consultation has already taken place to get the views of patients and other hospital users.
Ideas put forward so far include a pharmacy, midwifery services, such as antenatal and postnatal clinics, and respiratory therapy. Improved gym facilities.
And space for support groups to help patients and families have also been suggested.
Services currently based at the site include outpatient clinics for cardiology, diabetes, rheumatology and Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT).
There is also a primary care assessment and treatment service for patients who need monitoring but not admission to an acute hospital and gym facilities for patients who need physiotherapy and rehabilitation.
The hospital recently opened a 20-bed ward to temporary house patients declared medically-fit but who cannot be sent home straight away.
Toby Lewis, chief executive of the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, said up to £3m has been spent redeveloping the hospital during the last two years and now the trust expects to invest a further £1m to £2m by 2016.
