{"id":58792,"date":"2025-08-11T08:54:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T08:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/58792\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T08:54:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T08:54:24","slug":"inside-the-hospital-thats-more-than-a-treatment-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/58792\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the hospital that’s ‘more than a treatment centre’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Midland Met Hospital aims to improve life chances for the people it serves as well as keeping them healthy\"MarshaMarsha Jones, Jayne Dunn, Dr Sarb Clare and Emma Loosley from the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital with their Excellence in Patient Care award. PIC: Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur tag line is to improve the life chances of our people. Not just making sure they survive but have a good, quality life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Midland Metropolitan University Hospital proudly boasts the tagline \u2018more than a hospital\u2019 as it not only looks to provide the best healthcare to the people it serves but also enhances the area by addressing inequalities and boosting economic opportunities.<\/p>\n

And less than a year after it finally opened in Smethwick<\/a>, the Midland Met is being recognised for doing just that having scooped the Health Inequalities Award at the Royal College of Physicians Excellence in Patient Care Awards 2025 last month.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: 24\/7 mental health texting service launched to help support Birmingham and Solihull people<\/a><\/p>\n

It serves around 500,000 people in Sandwell<\/a> and West Birmingham<\/a> \u2013 areas which suffer with high levels of deprivation.<\/p>\n

Dr Sarb Clare, Deputy Medical Director and Acute Medical Consultant at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS<\/a> Trust, said the hospital is a catalyst for regeneration in the area.<\/p>\n

This includes redeveloping the City Hospital site in Birmingham, where 750 new affordable homes will be built.<\/p>\n

Run-down buildings around the hospital site are to be regenerated into mixed-use, including retail space.<\/p>\n

A new bus service connecting Sandwell to the city centre has been opened up, as have cycle lanes.<\/p>\n

A learning campus is being built on the Midland Met site and will open at the end of this year, enabling nursing students from Sandwell College and the Wolverhampton and Aston universities to train, study and work there.<\/p>\n

The new site also features an art gallery, community garden and a Youth Space for those aged 13 to 21.<\/p>\n

We need to talk about knife crime<\/p>\n

Kids aged 12 are being killed here in Birmingham. Our children need action, and they need it now.<\/p>\n

We’ve spent three months investigating the root causes of knife crime to understand the risks our kids face.<\/p>\n

We spent time with those on the front line for our exclusive report, Deep Cuts. Read here<\/a> to see exactly why we’re pushing for these changes:<\/p>\n

1. Free after-school clubs<\/a><\/p>\n

When school ends, kids become vulnerable to the streets<\/p>\n

2. More talk<\/p>\n

Would you know if your child was being exploited by a gang?<\/p>\n

3. Social media controls<\/p>\n

Violence. Gangs. Bullying. Kids need shielding from the online dangers4. Tougher sentences for knife possession<\/p>\n

There has to be a deterrent for young people5. Real punishment for weapon sellers<\/p>\n

Unlimited fines for those selling knives to underage kids<\/p>\n

Dr Clare said: \u201cMidland Met encompasses us trying to address inequalities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe treat around 500,000 people and we have the highest level of deprivation. Deprivation is scored on the Index and Multiple Deprivation and we\u2019re ninth (city) and 12th (Sandwell) within the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re very poor. When they measure deprivation, they don\u2019t just measure how bad your health is but also how bad your education is, how bad your skills are, crime, living environment and income.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat people don\u2019t understand is if you want to address health inequalities, you can\u2019t just say \u2018ok, sort out the health\u2019. It\u2019s all interlinked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no point sorting out health if they are living in damp housing or can\u2019t get education or a job.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201c40 per cent of our children live in poverty in Birmingham. It\u2019s horrific. 25 per cent of our people smoke, 25 per cent are obese and 15 per cent are alcoholics.<\/p>\n

\u201c50-60 per cent of our people are non British so their first language is not English.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone around the world comes to the hospital can\u2019t communicate, they\u2019re vulnerable and they don\u2019t know how to access health care.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring Covid<\/a>, it is now recorded the population around City Hospital were the hardest hit in terms of death and generationally as to what happened to them \u2013 they lost their income, their jobs and so forth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who went to work were the people who couldn\u2019t isolate \u2013 they were the taxi drivers, shop owners, bus drivers. They were the ones who got sick and died.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see a lot of people who forgo their wealth because they have to get money for food for their kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will miss appointments, they will not come to hospital when they are unwell because they have to go to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the people living in our communities. We need to address it in a multi-prong effect through housing, education and so forth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where \u2018more than a hospital\u2019 comes in. It\u2019s responsibility of every single one of us to make sure all the jigsaw pieces come together.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Dr Clare added improvements should be seen over the next five to 10 years.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cSmethwick should be a completely different place too in terms of housing and employment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always describe Midland Met as a beacon of hope for local people because the physicality of it should say to them \u2018this is for you\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know people like them are neglected and no one talks about them. The poor are always left behind but this has been done for them because they need it the most.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur tag line is to improve the life chances of our people. Not just making sure they survive but having a good, quality life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been great to be part of this project because we are doing something about it. We can make a difference and we are making a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Midland Met Hospital aims to improve life chances for the people it serves as well as keeping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,104,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-58792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-nhs","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}