Sandwell General Hospital

Sandwell General Hospital is a busy acute teaching hospital of the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust in West Bromwich, England and provides an extensive range of general and specialist hospital services.

Sandwell General Hospital provides a comprehensive range of medical and nursing services including general medicine, surgery, urology, plastic surgery, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, rheumatology, interventional cardiology (including percutaneous coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction since 2005), maternity and paediatrics.

A new £18m Emergency Services Centre opened on the Sandwell General Hospital campus in April 2005. This facility replaced the old A&E department destroyed by the largest fire in National Health Service history. It incorporates a comprehensive A&E facility, Emergency Assessment Unit and Cardiac Care Unit. The model of care has been developed with primary care to provide a fully integrated service.

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the largest NHS teaching Trusts in the United Kingdom with a reputation for excellent staff who provide high quality care from the following three hospitals:

*Sandwell General Hospital in West Bromwich,
*City Hospital in Birmingham,
*Rowley Regis Community Hospital in Rowley Regis

The Trust was established on 1st April 2002 following approval given by the Secretary of State for Health to amalgamate Sandwell Healthcare NHS Trust and City Hospital NHS Trust. The amalgamation was initiated by clinicians and managers at the two trusts to enable services to be strengthened and developed for a larger population. The Trust which has Two Star status and a budget of almost £300 million. It employs more than 7,000 staff and serves a population of approximately 500,000.

Sandwell Hospital and City Hospital are busy acute hospitals providing many specialist services and a full range of emergency services including Accident & Emergency at both sites. Rowley Regis Community Hospital was opened in 1994 and provides continuing care, rehabilitation and respite care. It also has a range of outpatient and diagnostic facilities.

The Trust is a major partner in the "Towards 2010" programme. This programme sets the strategic direction for the local health economy to 2010 and beyond. It has the backing of the Birmingham and the Black Country Strategic Health Authority and was approved in July 2004 as a national priority scheme by the Department of Health. The programme includes investment of up to £750 million in new facilities in both the acute and primary care sectors, making it one of the largest investment programmes in the UK. The most likely option for acute services is the construction of a new single site acute unit which will create some of the largest clinical teams in the country. The Trust's current strategy focuses on the period leading up to 2010 with an emphasis on driving clinical integration, strengthening key specialties and on service improvement.

The Birmingham Treatment Centre opened on the City Hospital site in November 2005. This £35m development provides state of the art facilities for one-stop diagnosis and treatment and completely replaces the existing Outpatient Department. It includes an Ambulatory Surgical Unit with six theatres, extensive imaging facilities, an integrated breast care centre and teaching accommodation.

Aside from being the largest provider of acute patient services in the Midlands, the Trust also has a substantial research agenda with portfolio status and hosts several academic departments including ophthalmology, cardiology and rheumatology.

The hospital was originally called Hallam Hospital, and was an infirmary added to the West Bromwich union workhouse in 1884. Improvements were begun in 1925, when the infirmary then became a separate institution named Hallam Hospital. After the creation of the NHS and rebuilding in the 1970's, the Hospital was renamed Sandwell General Hospital.