Long awaited 'super hospital' finally opens its doors in the West Midlands

The Midland Metropolitan University Hospital has finally opened its doors to the public.

Described as a 'super hospital', it is set to provide a huge boost to healthcare for people in the Black Country and Birmingham.

The hospital, located in Smethwick will replace Sandwell General Hospital and City Hospital A&E departments. Doors to A&E opened at 5 o'clock on Sunday 6 October and patients from Sandwell General Hospital were transferred shortly after. They will be joined by approximately 4,500 staff, many of who are from Sandwell and the surrounding areas.

14-month-old Preston from Walsall was one of the first children in the paediatric emergency department, with his mother Chantelle Donnery.

There is also 4,500 rooms in the 11 floor hospital, which spans an area that is equivalent to 22 football pitches.

However, this has not come without its hurdles. It was originally supposed to open in 2018, but the collapse of Wolverhampton based construction company Carillion and then Coronavirus brought numerous delays.

It was not cheap either. The cost wound up being more than double the original estimate, reaching almost 1 billion pounds.

Despite this the hospital will aim to provide groundbreaking care to patients in the region. With over 350 single rooms for patients with en-suites, the rooms have been designed in a way to aid patients' recovery.

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