NHS unveils new urgent care center plan at ‘super’ hospital to tackle A&E waiting times

The new center will be built at the huge new £988 million Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in Smethwick.

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust said the urgent treatment center would be used to assess patients and direct non-urgent cases away from the hospital’s main A&E centre. This would reduce the number of patients and waiting times in A&E, the trust said.

The trust also said the building would be used to treat patients with minor injuries in the future.

The center would open in late summer next year, according to the NHS trust.

A statement from the NHS trust included in the application: “The urgent care center will need to support and manage the increasing workload of the emergency department at the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital by triaging less serious injuries away from the emergency department.

“The Urgent Treatment Center will be the key element of a new integrated model of urgent, urgent and ambulatory care through a single entry door that will send all urgent and emergency patients to the right place, first time, every time.

“The emergency treatment center will have a dual purpose, that of triaging patients and providing medical assistance services. When patients arrive at the urgent care center, they will be triaged and directed directly to the facility that will treat them, avoiding emergency room attendance where appropriate. The Urgent Treatment Center will initially provide only emergency care, but will have both the capacity and the ability to serve patients with minor injuries at a later date.

Plans show the urgent care center would be able to cater for an average of 230 patients – and up to 350 patients – with around 40 staff.

The hospital is due to open its doors in October – six years after its original opening date. The near-billion-pound hospital was due to open this spring but has been delayed again – with NHS chiefs admitting they were now looking at October before the site. it would be ready. The opening date this spring would already be six years late.

Construction of the hospital has been hampered by delays following the collapse of construction company Carillion in 2018 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

A plan to build a new £19 million 1,300-student teaching campus on the site of the long-delayed new hospital was approved by Sandwell Council last year. The Education and Skills Campus will offer a range of healthcare training from entry level to masters level with links to the new hospital.