Queen Elizabeth Hospital turns offices into wards as patient waiting times spike

Old offices at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Edgbaston are being turned into wards to help cut patient waiting times.

The hospital is part of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust (UHB) which has the longest waiting list in England - and has treated more Covid patients than any other.

The new wards at the QE (QEHB) were officially opened yesterday (Monday, February 7) and are the first of seven planned in all.

There are currently 184,956 patients waiting for treatment at UHB - which also runs Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull Hospital and is the largest NHS trust in the country - according to latest NHS data.

Of those, 31,770 had been waiting more than a year - with managers saying their waiting lists have “grown to levels never experienced before”.

UBH has treated 23,000 patients for Covid-19.

It’s bosses say that it was the “hardest hit of any other NHS organisation in England”, with 40% more Covid-19 cases than the next most-impacted trust.

They pointed out that Covid patients still currently occupy “almost 400 beds” over all sites including 21 in ICU.

They added that the extra capacity would give “both hope and reassurance” to those on its waiting lists.

And explained that they are hoping the new in-patient beds will help “tackle the growing waiting lists that have built up” because of the pandemic, allowing it to treat more patients.

The new wards were former offices for clinical and corporate trust staff, but have been transformed into modern wards with space for 47 additional beds.

What have UHB bosses said about their biggest ever waiting lists in their own words?

Jonathan Brotherton, trust chief operating officer, said: “While our hospitals are still experiencing the extremely challenging effects of the pandemic, these new wards provide both hope and reassurance for the people of Birmingham and Solihull, and our front-line clinicians who strive to provide the highest possible standards of care.

“Almost 400 beds are currently occupied by patients with Covid-19 across our hospitals, with 21 in ICU.

“This has a huge effect on our ability to provide other treatments that we would have normally used this capacity for, however these wards will help accelerate our continued recovery and treat more patients.”

He added: “Positive signs from many of our interventions are starting to show… our colleagues have created excellent facilities to help us deliver on our vision to build healthier lives.”

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. BirminghamWorld is Birmingham’s latest news website, championing everything that is great about our city - reporting on news, lifestyle and sport. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going.