Heartbeat July 2020

The importance of moving to Midland
Metropolitan University Hospital
When the Midland Metropolitan
University Hospital opens in
2022, it will bring together
teams who provide acute and
emergency care. The new
hospital will offer maternity,
children’s and inpatient adult
services to half a million
people which will massively
revolutionise patient care
across the region.
Heartbeat recently caught up with
Dr Chetan Varma, Group Director
of Medicine and Emergency Care,
to talk about the significance of
moving to Midland Met. He said:
“I think the move to the Midland
Metropolitan University Hospital is
important as it will bring together
two great hospitals with some
facilities remaining at each original
site. Working in a modern welldesigned
environment is vital for
patient care. Many of the wards will
have side rooms or small bays which
will only benefit patients and, more
importantly, reduce the potential risk
of infection. The building will have a
large green area built into it which
will be great for the health and
wellbeing of patients, visitors and
colleagues.”
The hospital will benefit the local
Chetan Varma, Group Director of
Medicine and Emergency Care
area as it will be a landmark building
that will be an asset to ensure
positive role modelling for the local
community. It will put help put
Smethwick on the map in terms of
being aspirational for school children
and the local workforce. It will also
allow for improved transport with
bespoke cycling and greener ways
of travel.
Chetan believes the move to the
Midland Metropolitan University
Hospital will benefit medicine
and emergency care in particular.
“The move will help facilitate new
ways of working. This will drive our
ability to explore in an academic
measured manner how this leads to
improvement as its model is unique
in creating an acute hub.”
He added: “Emergency and acute
medicine departments care will
benefit greatly as they will create a
harmonised workforce. By creating
a larger pool, the resilience of the
department increases which results
in expertise being shared. Cross
cover will also be greater so safety
and delivery of medical care will
be offered at a higher standard.
This all means that the best of care
provision can be brought into each
department from the outset. For the
wards having a workforce on one site
should allow for higher quality care,
seven days a week with increased
senior staff presence. This should
help reduce the risk of unnecessarily
prolonged hospital stays.”
When asked about how he feels
personally about the move, Chetan
explained how the delay has allowed
the Trust to be better prepared.
He said: “Waiting for the potential
benefits can be frustrating at times,
however, this has allowed us to
bring in other large changes such
as our electronic patient record,
Unity, and for most departments to
reconfigure and harmonise working
practise before the move.”
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