Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals (SWBH) National Health Service (NHS) Trust has reached an agreement with the UK government for funding to complete the Midland Metropolitan Hospital, which has been in construction since 2016. All work was halted in January 2018 when Carillion, awarded a PPP contract to deliver the hospital in May 2015, went into liquidation.

In early August 2018, the Board of the Trust reversed prior decisions to proceed with another private finance contract, and opted to request funds from the UK government for a direct contract with a building contractor to finish the new hospital. The Department of Health and Social Care has now approved this request.

Once complete, now scheduled for 2022, Midland Metropolitan will be the main acute hospital for almost three quarters of a million people in the West Midlands region of England, equipped with state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, 15 operating theatres, and at least 669 beds.