Concern over ‘tremendous’ hospital pressure
Concerns have been raised over the “tremendous” pressure at a Birmingham hospital amid a row over the temporary move of a vital health facility.
An “emergency relocation” of Warren Farm Urgent Treatment Centre in Kingstanding was recently initiated following the discovery of collapse-prone RAAC, according to NHS papers.
They go on to say the facility will now move on a temporary basis to vacant space at the Erdington Health and Wellbeing Centre in the high street – a move expected to last for up to 12 months.
The NHS has said that all services previously run from Warren Farm Health Centre, aside from the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC), have already been permanently relocated to other sites after RAAC was found in its roof panels.
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) is the lightweight concrete which was used in the construction of many buildings between the 1950s and 1990s.
It is susceptible to deterioration over time, leading to possible structural issues compromising the safety and longevity of buildings.
Earlier this year, a committee meeting previously heard from health bosses that the temporary move was “about protecting staff and patients”.
They went on to insist that it was not a long-term plan to move Warren Farm UTC and that a ‘longer-term review of urgent treatment centres’ would be taking place – which will include options for the permanent location of Warren Farm UTC.
At a committee meeting this week however, Oscott councillor Barbara Dring admitted she was “disappointed” by the uncertainty of the health facility’s future amid the pressures at nearby Good Hope Hospital.
Addressing health chiefs in the room, she said: “I welcome the fact you say the move is still temporary but I’m very disillusioned on going forward.
“We came here today expecting an answer on what the future of Warren Farm was going to be.”
The councillor, who previously attended a protest at Warren Farm UTC last December, added: “Warren Farm was designed to take the pressure off Good Hope Hospital and that isn’t happening because Warren Farm isn’t functioning correctly.
“Good Hope Hospital is under tremendous pressure so we need that answer.”
Faith Button, a chief delivery officer at NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board, responded by saying: “The whole point of UTCs is to absolutely take the pressure of our acute hospital.
“Our acute hospitals up and down the country cannot cope with the demand that is rising all the time.”
She continued that urgent treatment centres were potentially not stemming that demand across the country currently.
“We need to look at our urgent care strategies, hence why we’re reviewing all UTCs across this city,” she said. “We have to make sure they are the right provision and we have to make sure people can get to them to take the pressure off.
“We have to do the review properly so we don’t waste taxpayers’ money and end up with a UTC provision that fails to take the demand out of our front doors of hospitals.
“I know it means that’s frustrating while that goes on and we have to go through that process,” she continued. “We can’t just move back into a building that has got a safety issue currently with its roof – you have to allow us to do that strategy.
“We’re trying to take pressure off Good Hope Hospital or QE or the Heartlands to make sure patients are not in an ambulance outside waiting to go in.”
