New ‘super hospital’ to treat injured soldiers

09/06/2010

 

Troops injured in Afghanistan are to receive treatment at a new £545million ‘super hospital’, the Ministry of Defence announced yesterday.

A special wing has been set aside at the new 1,213-bed Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for service personnel.

The first accident and emergency patients will be treated at the hospital from next Wednesday, as the corresponding unit at the nearby Selly Oak Hospital closes its doors.

The "minute-by-minute" plans will also see around 500 patients moved from the existing Queen Elizabeth and Selly Oak hospitals to the new building over a three-day period.

As part of the switch-over, the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM) is being transferred from the Selly Oak site to the new hospital.

As final preparations are being made before patients begin to arrive, the RCDM's Commandant, Brigadier Christopher Parker, said the new facilities would offer injured soldiers the best possible care.

Brigadier Parker also stressed that the level of military support offered to personnel at Selly Oak would be maintained at the new site, with severely injured soldiers treated on separate wards once they leave critical care.

The officer told The Associated Press "Already the casualties are getting excellent care from one of the leading teaching hospitals. To move into a state-of-the-art environment like this, which has been planned with patient care at its core, is going to be so good."

Following the move to the new hospital, Selly Oak will close its doors by November 2011 and will then be sold off, although parts of the existing Queen Elizabeth Hospital will remain in use.

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