Queen Elizabeth Birmingham: A brand new hospital under pressure

Ambulance docks wait to receive emergency patients.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) is a major trauma centre treating the most severely injured casualties from across the Midlands.

  • QEHB saw its first patients in 2010 and became fully operational in Spring 2012

A patient is transported towards the trauma unit after arriving by air ambulance. Credit: ITV News/ Steve Gardner

On average, the hospital sees:

  • 40,000 outpatient appointments a month

  • 10,000 outpatient appointments every week

  • 2,000 outpatient appointments per day

The hospital's coffee shops and newsagents are popular with visitors. Credit: ITV News/ Steve Gardner

  • The hospital has 10,000 doors

  • In the past year, 80-90% of major trauma patients arrived by land ambulance and 10-20% by air ambulance. On average, their length of stay in the hospital was 16 days

People shop at a fruit and vegetables stall outside the hospital's main entrance. Credit: ITV News/ Steve Gardner

  • The hospital has 1,213 beds, 30 theatres and, with 100 beds, the largest single-site critical care unit in Europe

People use outdoor seating in one of the hospital's coffee shops. Credit: ITV News/ Steve Gardner

  • More than 200 patients every hour pass through the main entrance and into the outpatients department

  • In the last year, 40% of patients arriving with major trauma status did so following road traffic accidents

  • Some 50% of major trauma patients who are admitted will go straight to a ward, about 10% will go to directly to theatres, and a further 20% will go to Critical Care. About 20% will go home

The hospital is a new, modern building which became fully operational in 2012. Credit: ITV News/ Steve Gardner

  • During 2012/13, the University Hospital Trust, of which QEHB is a part, saw around 585,000 outpatients 126,000 inpatients and 94,000 A&E attendances

  • Facts and figures provided by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust