£36 million Walsall Manor A&E revamp moves a step closer
A £36 million revamp of an A&E department has moved a step closer after the business case for the project was signed off by NHS bosses.
The upgrade of Walsall Manor Hospital’s emergency department will see a new two-storey urgent care centre created and the existing A&E facility refurbished.
Health chiefs say the development is crucial to ensuring the hospital can cope with increased demand predicted over the coming years, and will bring improved facilities to the outdated unit.
The NHS trust which runs the hospital has already received planning permission and is now just awaiting final approval from the Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Improvement.
Hospital bosses expect the number of patients to increase at the Walsall hospital when neighbouring Sandwell General is downscaled as the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital opens in Smethwick in 2022.
It is hoped the revamp at Walsall Manor will be completed in April that year.
A trust board report outlining the benefits of the scheme said: "This development will enable the rust to respond to an increased flow of patients to Walsall resulting from the relocation of services in Sandwell and West Birmingham to the Midland Metropolitan Hospital site in 2022/23 and manage sustained annual increases in emergency care demand experienced in Walsall.
"The modern facilities and models of care are intended to give staff a service to be proud of, and to support improved recruitment and retention of staff in the various specialisms involved.
"This business case seeks to improve the quality, safety and experience of patients receiving emergency care at the trust, and will result in improvements to key clinical safety measures such as the proportion of patients seen within the ED (emergency department) within 60 minutes of arrival, and the proportion of patients admitted or discharged within four hours of arrival."
The trust's Paul Wood told planners in July: “This is a very important development for the local hospital and for the local population.
“The current existing ED department is very inadequate in terms of provision of modern healthcare and also was built at a time when there was only expected to be about a 150 patients a day. We’re now experiencing over 300 patients a day."
