Children’s hospital charity launches new appeal to transform emergency department

Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity has launched a new £2million charity appeal to transform its Emergency Department, where a lack of space is creating a barrier to the treatment and care it can offer.

Thanks to the generosity of some of the region’s top business leaders, companies and entrepreneurs, the charity has just £1m left to raise.

The Emergency Department at Birmingham Children’s Hospital is currently the only major trauma centre for children and young people in the Midlands.

Designed to care for a maximum of 40,000 patients a year, increasingly, staff work around the clock delivering specialist treatment to over 67,000 sick kids annually – 67 per cent more patients than was intended when the department was last updated in 2012, with the upward trend likely to continue.

As a result, bed space is limited and too small. This means patients and families experience wait times in a small and cramped waiting room.

The current resuscitation (resus) area features three beds separated by curtains. Families have expressed they feel a lack of privacy when discussing their child’s care and added anxiety when placed next to a trauma case.

The Emergency Department is now in urgent need of transformation.

Its footprint needs to be expanded to allow for three new state-of-the-art resus rooms featuring all the latest life-saving technology, as well as a bigger, better equipped waiting room. 

With Trust and NHS funding already secured, a multi-phase scheme has been developed to update and improve the entire department.

Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity now needs to raise £2m to help accelerate and enhance the project.

Thanks to £400,000 pledged from the charity’s visionary network of Changemakers – made up of some of the region’s top business leaders, companies and entrepreneurs – plus £500,000 raised by the charity’s network of corporate organisations, and a £100,000 grant from Morrisons Foundation, there’s just £1m left to raise with the help of the public. 

Katie Johnston, lead nurse for Urgent Care at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, said: “Our staff work around the clock, 365 days of the year, to deliver urgent and often life-saving treatment, however the environment in which we offer that care, is no longer suitable.

“We’re seeing more young people come through our doors, with more complex needs, so it’s essential for us to expand our clinical spaces and introduce new technology, to allow us to treat patients more efficiently as well as reduce wait times and improve outcomes.”

As well as the new resuscitation area, other features of the refurbishment include a new waiting room with child friendly additions such as artwork on the walls and ceilings.

There will also be much-needed facilities for some of the department’s most vulnerable patients, such as a quiet sensory room, a Changing Places accessible toilet, a baby change and feeding room, a dedicated safe space for mental health patients and a family room where doctors can speak with family members in a calm and supportive space. 

The transformation will take place in multiple phases, so the department's life-saving services remain unaffected. Work has recently begun on the new waiting area, which will be open to patients and families in mid-Spring.

Click here to find out more about the hospital’s Emergency Department Appeal, or to donate.

Pictured: Patient, Bella, helped to launch the £2m ED Appeal