£97m ‘one-stop-shop’ hospital centre opens
A NEW treatment centre costing almost £100 million has opened at a Birmingham hospital, promising a ‘one-stop-shop’ for patients suffering from a range of ailments.
The Heartlands Treatment Centre at Heartlands Hospital, in Bordesley Green East, welcomed its first patients last week.
The £97 million development brings a number of NHS services under one roof meaning patients will be treated ‘‘more efficiently’’ and have more than one procedure at the same site.
The centre offers diagnostics, day case procedures, endoscopy, audiology, outpatients, therapies and imaging services. The four-storey centre will be able to treat up to 1,500 patients a day.
The majority will be seen in the new outpatients department, which has multi-language and disabledfriendly self-check-in kiosks for patients, along with wayfinding technology on each floor.
The new building is said to be filled with cutting-edge technology and more space, with patients able to wait for appointments in large, light-filled areas.
The first patient to use the new centre was Richard Mullen, from Walmley, in Sutton Coldfield, after suffering a trampoline injury. He had an MRI scan in the state-of-the-art new scanner paid for by the hospital’s official charity, University Hospitals Birmingham Charity.
As well as being treated, he was also given the honour of cutting the ribbon to officially open the centre.
He said: “It feels good to be the first person in the new centre here at Heartlands Hospital – I’m honoured.”
The building, which is the first ‘‘large-scale capital investment’’ at Heartlands Hospital since 2008, was delivered both on time and on budget, with the keys handed over by developers Kier Construction last November.
Since then, University Hospitals
Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) has been kitting out the centre to turn it into a fully-functioning clinical space.
Jonathan Brotherton, interim chief executive at UHB, said: “It marks the culmination of many years of planning and hard work and I thank all the staff who have made the Heartlands Treatment Centre a reality.”
It has been funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: “As part of our commitment to upgrade hospitals across the country, 1,500 patients a day in Birmingham will benefit from state-of-the-art new facilities and technologies.”