Why

A woman having a scanWe have consistently delivered high quality clinical outcomes, world leading patient experiences, significant research and successfully balanced and effectively used our resources despite delivering care in ageing and  constrained hospital environments.

However, the limits of these buildings and our ability to make do and mend will reach a critical point in the next few years.

For the Trust to continue to deliver person-centred care that pushes boundaries, a major new investment is now needed for local, regional and national benefit.

For an estimated cost of £442 million* we can transform our main clinical sites with two major new inpatient blocks and complementary refurbishments of our older estate, overcoming the challenges we currently face.

*Financial estimations completed in December 2019

Ready for the future

This work will create high quality, safe spaces for the care of women and children that are physically and virtually connected to each other and the wider world.

At a time of great uncertainty it will ensure the future of specialist services in Birmingham, protecting jobs for key workers and giving the local and regional economy a much needed boost through the jobs created to support the construction.

How we got to this solution

The Trust has spent hundreds of hours carefully developing, examining, and testing a number of options and has found an ambitious, brave strategy for the future that will provide the modern,  environment designed for the needs of young lives and women and that compliments and supports the compassionate care its teams and individuals provide each day.

Our plan balances need, ambition and realistic modelling of future needs with opportunities for further exploration and development. It uses regional predicted activity levels to deliver sustainable services.

Why us

  • We have strong history of financial balance and delivering value for public investment; demonstrating delivery and prudence through surpluses in every year since being established as a foundation trust.
  • The project can easily be shovel ready. The required land is already owned by the Trust, and construction could commence as early as 2023, with patients enjoying the benefits of improved care by 2025.
  • The outline financial assessment shows good value for money, with costings of £450 million compared to nearly £1 billion pounds to rectify the existing estate to a good condition.
  • We have the support of our local health and care partners and the scheme is the highest priority on the STP estate prioritisation framework, a strategic fit with Birmingham City Council’s Big City Plan.
  • Our plans are designed to minimise the impact on patient care during development.

Photo of a baby - the next generation

Why we must act

  • The age and condition of parts of our hospitals mean we often have to provide excellent care in poor quality environments. We’re reaching the threshold of what we can do with a ‘make do and mend’ approach.
  • Our amazing teams are providing care in challenging environments poorly suited to meeting the needs of modern care or of realising their future potential.
  • Our patient spaces are significantly smaller than what’s expected by modern care standards. Families can’t stay together. New parents aren’t given the space and privacy to bond with their new baby.
  • At our city centre children’s hospital site, much of our care is delivered in facilities that still look familiar from the Victorian era:
    • With open wards, children can’t easily make their area feel like home and they can hear each other when they are upset or distressed.
    • Privacy for difficult conversations often involves needing to go to a separate area, increasing the trauma for the family and patient.
    • With a site constrained by historic buildings, it’s not possible to co-locate important facilities such as imaging and the Emergency Department meaning unstable patients need internal transfers for investigation.
  • Maintaining our hospitals is putting an increasing quality and financial burden that means we are unable to invest in new technology and services.
  • We know that the changing shape of those we care for means demand for our specialist care will only increase and that our current site is not able to meet that need.
  • We are in a site that is holding back the potential of our ambitious teams. This investment unleashes the potential of not just us but our academic and commercial partners – opening the way to ground-breaking treatments.
  • Developing our sites benefits and compliments other projects such as the new Life Sciences Park in Edgbaston and the development of HS2, making our nationally renowned services and clinical leaders more easily accessed.
  • Our plans support greater collaborative working as part of a joined up Integrated Care System for the West Midlands, delivering benefits for not only local patients but regionally and nationally too.

A new green home for our services that delivers our own and the regions vision for a sustainable world.

Get involved and help shape our future

We need your ideas to help us design the best possible services and buildings. Join our email list to receive regular surveys and updates on the key topics that will shape our plans over the coming months, and to make sure you’re the first to hear our Big Build announcements.

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