Ministry of Defence
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MoD announces plans for new military ward at Birmingham new hospital
The MOD and University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust today announced detailed plans for a new military ward for the treatment of injured service personnel.
The new ward will be a designated trauma and orthopaedics ward where military patients will be cared for in single rooms or four-bedded bays. Because our service personnel have special requirements the new ward will have additional features for their exclusive use. The new ward will have more staff than a normal NHS ward, a quiet room for relatives and a communal space for military patients to gather. A dedicated physiotherapy area will also be provided close to the ward for military patients.
The new ward will start taking patients when the new hospital opens in Edgbaston in 2010. The new hospital will be home to the largest single-floor critical care unit in the world with 100 beds, meaning the Armed Forces will continue to benefit from Europe's leading trauma care provider.
Under Secretary of State for Defence, Derek Twigg, said:
"The new hospital will offer outstanding facilities for military patients. Working in partnership with University Hospital, we already provide first-class medical treatment and care for our Service patients. The military ward in Birmingham's new hospital further demonstrates our commitment to providing the best possible care for military casualties. We will build on the success of the current ward at Selly Oak as we move to the new hospital at Edgbaston."
Sir Jock Stirrup, Chief of the Defence Staff, said:
"Service personnel who are injured on operations deserve the very best medical care we can provide. I am confident that the treatment delivered at Selly Oak is already world class and we will continue to improve on that in this new ward. Importantly, the further development of a military atmosphere within the NHS hospital will ensure that our people are cared for in an environment that is conducive to their recovery and well being. All of this amongst the most modern facilities of their kind in Europe, and all under the continuing care of the joint NHS and military staff of the Birmingham Hospitals. I am very grateful to the staff for their dedication and professionalism."
Julie Moore, Chief Executive, University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, said:
"We are very proud of our relationship with the MOD and the progress that has been made in delivering the best in care to all of the 520,000 patients we treat each year - military and civilian. The new hospital will give us a technologically-advanced environment in which to offer the world-class clinical expertise needed to treat the highly complex conflict injuries - all under one roof."
Up to 30 patients can be cared for in single rooms or four-bed rooms on the new military ward but experience from Selly Oak means that the actual number of military patients at any time will be much lower. As with the current military managed ward at Selly Oak, military patients will be brought together on the new military ward as soon as clinically appropriate, once their specialist or acute care requirements have been met.
As was the case in the old military hospitals, civilian patients will also be admitted to the ward when capacity allows. The flexible design of the new hospital means that, with the exception of major civilian emergencies requiring all available bed spaces, it will always be possible to care for military patients in single rooms or ward rooms that are not shared with civilian patients.
The intention is to provide more nursing staff - a combined team of military and civilian nurses - than normally found on an NHS ward, both to boost the military ethos of the ward and to reflect the fact that military casualties may have complex needs and may remain for longer periods in hospital, owing to the mechanics of injury and the nature of military service.
Notes to editors
1. Since 2001, the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM), based at the Selly Oak Hospital, has been the principal receiving unit for casualties returning from operational theatres such as Afghanistan and Iraq. In the Birmingham area, military patients can benefit from the concentration of five specialist hospitals to receive a very high standard of treatment and nursing care. Selly Oak is at the leading edge in the medical care of the most common types of injuries, such as polytrauma, that military casualties sustain.
2. Over the past couple of years, the MOD has been developing, in close consultation with the Birmingham Hospital Trust, a military managed ward at Selly Oak. By last summer, military nursing numbers on the ward had increased from 12 to a total of 39, and part of the ward was partitioned off for military patients.
3. As well as providing first class care to casualties, UHBFT has provided the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine with access to the facilities and training of a major trauma Trust hospital. Such access has ensured that our personnel have the necessary clinical skills to deliver medical care on deployed operations. We shall of course continue to benefit in this way from our partnership with the Trust.
4. The new hospital being built for University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust is the biggest single site hospital development in the United Kingdom:
* It is the first new acute hospital to be built in Birmingham
for 70 years.
* There is capacity for 1,213 beds - about the
same number available at the Selly Oak Hospital and Queen
Elizabeth Hospital sites combined
* 44% of the beds will be in
single rooms and the rest in four-bed rooms, which greatly
improves privacy and dignity and enhances the ability to prevent
infections
* All the rooms have full en-suite facilities
*
Each general ward has 36 beds - and there are two wards on each
floor in the three towers. The oval design was chosen because it
was the most efficient shape for managing movement around the
building
* There will be sinks at the entrances to each ward
to aid hand hygiene
* The new hospital will have 30 operating
theatres - seven of them in a dedicated day case unit
* It
will have a 100-bed critical care unit - the largest in Europe -
and the largest single floor critical care unit in the world
*
UHB has just completed the sourcing of some of the world's
most advanced imaging equipment for the new hospital - in the
biggest deal ever managed through the NHS Supply Chain
* The
hospital has its own mini-ring road to improve access and reduce
traffic on local roads
* There will be 3,800 car parking
spaces
* Once inside the hospital, there are separate lifts
for patients, visitors and supplies to ease the flow of people
around the hospital
* The new hospital will also have a large
education and research centre run by the University of
Birmingham's medical school
* The total building cost of
the new hospital is £545m
* The new acute hospital building
programme is also ahead of schedule and on budget
* The first
services are due to transfer across to the new hospital in the
summer of 2010 - and it is due to be fully open in 2011.
