Good Hope Hospital A&E expansion plans to 'help reduce waiting times'

A planning application has been lodged to expand the accident and emergency area at a Birmingham hospital. University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust has applied to demolish a medical records building and an unused plant room at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield to replace it with a new modular building, which will house a new waiting room and consultation area for patients arriving at A&E.

The Trust said it has identified a clinical need to ‘expand capacity to treat patients within the existing Emergency Department to help alleviate NHS waiting times’. The plan is to add the extra A&E block to provide more capacity, in place of two buildings to the north of the existing emergency room area.

The new A&E extension will have a reception, waiting space for 32/33 patients, two additional consultation/examination rooms, five more consultation rooms, a large pharmacist’s office, a clean utility room, a dirty utility room, a staff quiet room and an accessible toilet.

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It will be a single-storey building with a flat roof, with electrical plant on the roof, screened from being viewed at ground level. It will be connected to the existing emergency department via a corridor.

In a statement, within the design and access statement, the Trust said: “As part of the Trust’s ongoing strategy to increase capacity for the treatment of patients at ‘front of house’ point of care, the Trust has developed a business case which focusses on expanding existing clinical services within the Emergency Department (EDAA).

“The Trust has decided that the best approach to increase the number of Treatment cubicles and consultation rooms in close proximity to the existing facility is to erect a new purpose-built, modular framed building which will include a link corridor to the existing Emergency Department.

“The existing Emergency Department is located immediately off Rectory Road from the main carriageway, where an ambulance and patient drop-off facilitates access to the main entrance. Upon arrival within the Emergency Department, patients may be referred to the new EDAA building to await treatment.”

The A&E extension plan comes a little over three years since a new children’s A&E department was opened at Good Hope, which added 10 treatment cubicles, reception and waiting area, itself freeing up space at the neighbouring existing A&E department. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/first-look-new-childrens-ae-20856296

Good Hope is described as a 479-bed hospital which provides ‘general acute services for the communities of North Birmingham and South Staffordshire ’, with 22 wards, employing 2,600 staff and serving around 450,000 people in the area.