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Heartbeat: The history of Midland Met explained

April 27, 2022

Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH) is currently under construction. Once open, it will be part of our established Trust, and our centre for acute care. It will include a dedicated children’s emergency department and assessment unit, operating theatres for both emergency and major planned surgery, and a purpose-built emergency department, to name but a few things.

This month we take you back to the beginning to explain the history of Midland Met. A lot has happened over the years, so we’re sharing our story to help colleagues understand the context behind MMUH and why making this change is necessary.

The MMUH business case was launched in 2004 and it was expanded on in the Right Care, Right Here programme, which outlined the need to transform care for our diverse populations in 2007. It explained the need to deliver improved prevention and early intervention, enhanced care for people with long term conditions, a more expansive range of services available locally, better access to specialist care in the community and improved specialist services through an improved estate and new models of care.

The vision focused on:

  • The transformation of our estate, including developing primary care and community facilities and our new acute hospital – MMUH
  • The development of technology to facilitate care pathways across healthcare settings
  • A redefined workforce to deliver high-quality care across reconfigured services and in a range of settings

Since defining the initial vision, there has been a lot of external change that has impacted our Trust and the healthcare landscape, but our commitment to improving health outcomes remains as strong as ever.

Rachel Barlow, Director of System Transformation, explained: “Midland Met offers us a unique opportunity to make a direct impact in the areas we serve and for the communities that rely on our services.

“Over the past several years, there has been a lot of change and focus on Midland Met. We have seen the creation of STPs and ICSs, plus we have renamed our new hospital to reflect our collaborative partnership with local universities. This decision underpins our commitment to being a teaching hospital.

“We have navigated our way through each wave of the pandemic and responded professionally and with kindness. We cannot and should not underestimate the significant impact the pandemic has had on healthcare services and our colleagues.”

Rachel added: “SWB has and continues to achieve milestones on our journey towards opening Midland Met. These include things such as primary care integration and single point of access, virtual outpatient appointments and our work with partners to develop a new learning campus on the MMUH site.”

Our journey will help us transform our services before we open our doors. Our acute care model has 12 key transformation schemes based on clinical pathway improvements to streamline patient care. Several changes will happen before we move into our new hospital, and these improvements will continue once we open.

Dr Melanie Griffiths, Head of Improvement and Acute Care Model Programme Lead, explained: “We are working on 12 major transformation programmes that form part of our acute care model. The programmes focus on redesigning our emergency care pathways so that patients are seen and diagnosed rapidly, by senior decisionmakers, in the most appropriate hospital setting.

“We are also concentrating our efforts on delivering care for more patients away from the hospital setting, in their own homes or closer to home. Right-sizing our community bed facilities and home-based care services will help us achieve this.

“In preparation for the opening of MMUH, we’re proposing to provide general surgery day cases differently. MMUH will allow us to treat more day-case patients at our treatment centres away from the elective and emergency treatments, improving efficiency. A public conversation is underway, and we are keen to hear from our local communities about our plans.

Melanie added: “There is collaborative work underway between SWB, acute and community services, primary care, social care, mental health, ambulance and third sector partners. This would not be possible without the continued dedication of colleagues across all areas. We appreciate the collaborative approach to secure the most patient-focused outcomes.”