Patients and staff in the Midlands will benefit from new facilities as a result of funding announced by the Government today.

Four Midlands trusts are amongst 20 where projects have been announced:

• Heartlands Hospital, part of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust will receive £97.1 million to complete its Ambulatory Care and Diagnostics Centre – a four-storey building that will house a range of services, including outpatients, endoscopy, day case surgery and imaging, and will care for nearly half a million patients a year
• Hereford County Hospital, part of Wye Valley NHS Trust (£23.6 million) will see its ageing second world war hutted wards replaced with a new three-storey building which will have 72 beds, an increase of 34 beds
• At United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (£21.3 million) patient waiting times will be improved through the creation of a defined urgent and emergency care zone in A&E at Pilgrim Hospital, Boston.
• University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust will receive £17.6 million to create three new modern wards to improve capacity and patient flow in Stoke, delivering approximately 84 beds for this winter.

 Siobhan Heafield, Chief Nurse, NHS England and Improvement (Midlands) said: “We welcome today’s announcement and the additional services and facilities it will bring to the people of the Midlands. The £160m received by four trusts is a significant first step in securing the capital investment needed for our region and will enable each of them to offer the surroundings our patients deserve, as well as increasing capacity in some of our most pressured areas. Importantly, it will help the NHS deliver on its ambition to provide the very best healthcare to patients, as set out in the Long Term Plan.”

The Midlands projects in more detail

Heartlands Hospital, UHB NHS Foundation Trust Ambulatory Care and Diagnostics Centre

The new centre will represent a multimillion pound investment in services at Heartlands Hospital, which will benefit patients, staff and local communities.

Due to open in late 2020, the four-storey building next to the main entrance will cover a 16,000m² footprint, with each floor being around 3,600m² – approximately half the size of Wembley’s football pitch.

Built to the highest construction and environmental standards, ACAD will make use of sustainable features such as solar panels to reduce its carbon footprint.

It will offer world-class facilities and will house a wide range of services – including outpatients, endoscopy, day case surgery and imaging – and will provide care for nearly half a million patients each year.

In addition to bringing jobs to the local area and providing local investment opportunities, it will provide a purpose-built working environment for staff.

Hereford County Hospital, Wye Valley NHS Trust

The suite of Canadian hutted wards on the hospital site was built in the 1940s and used extensively during World War II. While two are still in use as wards, four huts which had been used as offices, were demolished at the end of last year to make way for the new building.

The Trust has secured planning permission for the three-storey building which will significantly improve patient experience, including privacy and dignity, and will provide modern patient ward facilities fit for the future.

The new £23.6 million wards will provide 72 beds – an extra 34 over and above the capacity provided in the two hutted wards still in use for inpatients at Hereford County Hospital.

The extra beds are in addition to 24 new beds in the new Acute Medical Unit which was built in the autumn last year and opened its doors to patients just days before Christmas.

“This announcement means we can progress with the largest investment to increase bed capacity on the hospital site since it opened in 2002,” said Jane Ives, the Trust’s Managing Director.

“This is great news for the Trust, for our staff but most importantly for our patients,” added Jane

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust

Tracy Bullock, University Hospitals of North Midlands Chief Executive said: “We are delighted with today’s capital investment announcement from Department of Health and Social Care to help improve capacity and patient flow at our Royal Stoke site.

“UHNM is one of the largest NHS trusts outside of London and Royal Stoke University Hospital is one of the busiest in the country with constant pressure on our beds.

“This investment will provide us with the flexibility to bridge the expected winter bed gap while helping us and our system partners to develop alternative models of care to ensure patients who are fit to leave hospital have the care they require in the community.”

Pilgrim Hospital, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

At United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust the investment (£21.3 million) will help with a move towards defined urgent and emergency ‘care zones’ in a bid to improve patient waiting times and the flow of patients in and out of the department at Pilgrim Hospital, Boston. This will allow patients needing emergency treatment to be seen and treated more quickly.

Chief Operating Officer for ULHT, Mark Brassington, said: “We are delighted that Pilgrim Hospital has been awarded this funding.

“We are continuously working to improve our busy emergency departments and this investment will allow us to make changes we’ve not previously been able to, in turn relieving pressure across our hospital sites.

“These improvements to the department mean we will be able to direct patients when they arrive, so they can receive the most appropriate care.

“We hope that this development will help us to see and treat patients more quickly and ensure that everyone is getting the right level of care that they require.”