Trust Board Febuary 2010 - Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals

SWBTB (2/10) 045 (a)
City Hospital
The majority of people in
Sandwell wanted to be able to
give birth in Sandwell for a
number of reasons including
giving birth.
• Staff time and the support they are able to give to
women during and following birth.
• Impact this may have on support services such as
catering, housekeeping, cleaning and laundry.
• Ease of access for themselves and their families.
• Familiarity – focus group participants in Sandwell
said they felt comfortable with the hospital, that
they knew how to get there, that they knew the
journey time and knew their way around the site.
• In addition some respondents did not agree with
any of the options - they wanted to be able have
children born in Sandwell.
• Across focus groups and questionnaire
comments, it is clear that people feel that
Sandwell is fine as it is – even when the
consultation document and presentations at
consultation events, public meetings and focus
groups talked about issues of quality and safety.
• People would like to see improvements made to
the existing Sandwell facilities.
The Project Steering Group recognises the importance of these concerns and the need to ensure plans
for making changes to the service consider and address these. The Project Steering Group’s initial
response is:
Travel:
• Include clear travel directions, including common bus routes in patient information given to
women when they book with the service.
• Continue discussions with public transport providers about bus routes.
• Promote the option of women using the Trust shuttle bus service between Hospital sites.
• Continue to liaise with the ambulance service.
Parking:
• Undertake a survey of Sandwell maternity staff to establish how many travel to work by car.
• Promote the Trust shuttle bus service between Hospital sites and keep the times it operates
under review.
• Review car parking capacity at City Hospital.
Visiting:
• Work with women to agree the best visiting times.
Capacity at City Hospital:
• Opening of the co-located Birth Centre at City Hospital will help to increase capacity with
additional birth rooms and birthing pools and offer women more choice for giving birth.
• Undertake some refurbishment work at City Hospital to increase bed capacity and capacity on
Delivery Suite.
• Maintain midwifery to birth ratios at current levels as a minimum.
• Transfer maternity staff from Sandwell to City Hospital.
18