'It's been a long journey, but we will open this new hospital in the Black Country this year'
Official signage has started to go up across the West Midlands’ newest healthcare facility.
Run by Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH) in Smethwick will be one of the biggest hospitals to open in the UK in the past 10 years.
It will house one large accident and emergency department, bringing together the two A&E services currently operating at Birmingham’s City Hospital and Sandwell Hospital in West Bromwich, with 50 per cent of beds across both adult and children’s wards single ensuite rooms.
With the name now emblazoned in the signature orange colour across the front of the building in Smethwick, the organisation is working with construction giants Balfour Beatty to prepare for handover in the summer.
A public trust board meeting with Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust on May 8 set out dates for the next stages of populating and officially opening the hospital.
The building handover is now scheduled to take place on June 1, which includes the trust completing clinical scenario stress testing, installing all equipment and provisions are loaded into the building and staff are safely inducted.
