Yahoo News Sutton Coldfield's free Christmas car parking hit as £8.5 million work begins on hospital
Work is about to get underway on a multi-million-pound Sutton Coldfield hospital revamp to turn it into a one-stop shop for one section of the community. But with work about to start it has taken a hit on the town council’s free Christmas parking offer.
Plans were outlined earlier this year to transform Sutton Cottage Hospital in Birmingham Road into an ‘integrated hub for healthcare services for older people’. The town centre venue has cared for young and old up to now with services including physiotherapy, to paediatrics, Parkinson’s disease management to ‘youth open door’, HPV immunisations to leg ulcer clinics, heart failure treatments and more.
But the town’s MP, Andrew Mitchell, has long championed turning it into a centre for older people. And Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust approved the £8.5 million spend earlier this year.
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The new dedicated health site for the elderly, will see the 125-year-old Sutton Cottage Hospital offer the following services for the over-65s in north Birmingham:
extensive redevelopment of the 125-year-old Sutton Cottage Hospital site as a ‘one stop’ healthcare hub for over-65s in north Birmingham;
integrated healthcare delivered holistically between secondary, community and primary care (eg. respiratory, diabetes, podiatry, dietetics, chronic kidney disease, frailty, musculoskeletal services);
community diagnostics to support integrated care and alternative pathways to acute hospitals (eg. X-ray, ECG, ultrasound, spirometry, echocardiography, phlebotomy);
relocation of an established local general practice to support integrated care model;
additional clinic and treatment rooms to support surge capacity and other ‘seasonal’ demands eg. winter pressures response and vaccinations and
inclusion of voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector activity through personalised, non-clinical sessions.
Work will get underway in December ‘with the aim of opening to the public in the winter of 2025’. The Trust said: “The project team will do everything possible to minimise disruption; but there may be some pressures on transport and access in the vicinity of the site.”
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The Sutton hub is part of an ‘extensive collaboration’ collaboration between health and social care providers to provide more ‘joined-up services’ the Trust said. It will allow patients to see more than one specialist on the same visit to give a ‘more holistic preventative approach’. And a ‘more personalised diagnostic experience’.
Once the work is completed the hospital will have extra capacity to see patients ‘improving access to care and reducing pressure on acute care services and demand for GP appointments’. It is said it will free up time for those areas to look after other patients.
'I think it’s quite unfortunate they're closed off at this time of year'
The only downside to the work is Trust taking up a number of car parking spaces in Duke Street and South Parade just at the moment Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council has announced its free Christmas parking offer. The town council is paying for parking after 4pm on Thursdays and Fridays and all day on Saturdays and Sundays from now until Twelfth Night, January 5.
But with works starting on the revamp, almost half of the Duke Street car park, 22 spaces, have been taken out for a modular portacabin for some services to be carried out there. And a further 19 of the 132 spaces at the South Parade city council car park, also part of the town council offer, are also sectioned off for parking for staff that work at the cottage hospital, although that is an area of the car park has been fenced off for some time.
Sutton Trinity town and city councillor, David Pears (Cons.) said: “I think it’s quite unfortunate to have these car parks closed off in our town centre at this time of year. I have been told the town council was aware this was going to happen.” While town council leader, Cllr Simon Ward (Four Oaks, Cons.) said: “It’s one of those practical things. We are really keen for the cottage hospital to undergo this regeneration.”
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said the work was due to start in September, so they are a little behind. And the work must start now to fit in with the 12-month timeframe for construction adding: “It is unavoidable for these necessary arrangements to be in place during a Christmas period.”
The Trust spokesman said: “Maintaining continuity of clinical service delivery is a priority, particularly at this time of year. To that end, we have leased a total of 22 spaces in Duke Street to install temporary accommodation for continued delivery of some adult community services, as close to Sutton Cottage as possible. A further 19 spaces in South Parade car park havbe been rented by the Trust for staff working at Sutton Cottage Hospital to park.
“We aim to deliver this innovative health and wellbeing hub for older adults within a 12-month timeframe, safeguarding the future of a historic NHS building, and to do everything possible to minimise disruption, particularly to transport and access in the vicinity of the site.”
Some services which were at Sutton Cottage Hospital have been or are being moved. Community services for children and families have already been relocated to James Preston and Four Oaks health centres, while a number of services for adults that have continued at Sutton Cottage will be delivered from temporary accommodation, as close to Sutton Cottage as possible in order to assure continuity of provision.
BCHC chief executive Richard Kirby said: “I am delighted that the redevelopment of Sutton Cottage Hospital is moving forward. 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."
