The European Investment Bank, Europe’s long-term lending institution, has agreed to provide GBP 107m (US$ 140.07 million) to support construction of the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital in Birmingham. Once open in three years’ time the brand new hospital will provide state of the art acute healthcare for 530,000 people living in Sandwell and West Birmingham and include one of the largest accident and emergency departments in Europe.

The new hospital scheme, costing GBP 340m (US$ 445.09 million), includes 670 beds and 15 operating theatres, as well as a new public park, reached financial close following an agreement between the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust and developers Carillion. The new accident and emergency department will replace emergency care facilities at City Hospital and Sandwell and is expected to treat more than 140,000 patients a year.

This construction project is the first hospital to be supported by the new European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe, intended to generate EUR 315 billion (US$ 360.38 million) of new investment across Europe.

Work on the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital is expected to start in 2016 and the new hospital in Grove Lane, Smethwick will bring together all acute services onto one site to provide state-of-the-art treatment and care for patients from Sandwell and across the region.  This will lead to a merger of the current two Emergency Departments, at City and Sandwell Hospitals, on to the single site promoting better patient safety and patient experience. 

This is the first healthcare project to be backed by the new European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the Investment Plan. EFSI was established earlier this year by the European Investment Bank and the European Commission to enable increased lending crucial projects by the European Investment Bank in strategic sectors such as renewable energy, digital infrastructure, social infrastructure, transport and R&D; as well as financing for SMEs. Since the start of EFSI more support for projects in the UK have been approved by the board of the European Investment Bank than in any other country.