Multi-million-pound plan submitted to transform Sutton Coldfield hospital into ‘one-stop shop’ for elderly

Plans have been submitted for a multi-million-pound revamp of a Sutton Coldfield hospital to transform it into a ‘one stop shop’ for the elderly. Sutton Cottage Hospital in the centre of the town first opened in 1908 ‘so that accident victims did not have to be transported to Birmingham at great pain and inconvenience’.

The red-brick building has been added to and reconfigured over the years and now provides a diverse range of services from physiotherapy, to paediatrics, Parkinson’s disease management to ‘youth open door’. HPV immunisations to leg ulcer clinics, heart failure treatments and more.

But plans, backed by the town's MP Andrew Mitchell, have been submitted by Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHC) to spend £8.5 million to transform it into an older adult outpatients’ hub with diagnostics facilities – an integrated healthcare hub for older people in north Birmingham.

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The plan is for the hospital to focus on the over-65s, with a refurbishment inside to create more consultation/examination rooms, a new lift to the first floor, a new outside courtyard area and a range of services for older people.

These will include primary care, community care, diagnostics, treatment, a bookable clinic, activity spaces, and services like wound care, respiratory, diabetes, podiatry, elderly/frailty, chronic kidney disease, musculoskeletal and mental health. A new chest X-ray facility will be created in an extension.

Diagnostics will include X-rays, ECG, ultrasound, spirometry, echocardiography, phlebotomy. There will be seven consultation rooms downstairs and five upstairs ‘to support surge capacity’ and ‘other seasonal demands’ like winter increases or vaccinations.

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The aim is for services to collaborate to ‘avoid multiple referrals’, so patients can see more than one specialist in a single visit, ‘delivering a more personalised diagnostic experience and a more holistic preventative approach thanks to signposting to community advice and support’.

The revamped hospital will have ‘increased capacity to see patients, improving access to care’. There will be a focus on ‘prevention’ to stop patients from having to go to high-demand ‘acute’ services like A&E and seeing a GP to access primary care. The site will also have three new staff/disabled parking spaces accessed off Duke Street. There will also be a relocation of a GP practice

Work will take place in phases so the hospital can continue to operate. And while it does a modular portacabin will be placed in Duke Street car park, taking up 22 of its spaces on a temporary basis for a maximum of 102 weeks – almost two years while works take place.

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BCHC chief executive Richard Kirby said: “I am delighted that our proposals for the redevelopment of Sutton Cottage Hospital as an integrated hub for all older adults have now been approved for investment by Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board. There are multiple benefits - patients will access more joined-up care and receive more personalised and holistic support. The model will also help our ongoing focus to reduce acute admissions and help people stay out of hospital.

“We can now press forward with detailed design and a plan to start construction this summer and complete 12 months later.”

If plans are approved by Birmingham City Council ’s planning department work could start soon, with a proposed opening date of the new-look hospital in July 2025. The planning application, number 2024/02000/PA, can be viewed on the city council’s planning site. The public consultation on the plans ends on May 28.