Birmingham Hospitals, Medical and Healthcare

[sefton66]

Thought I'd make a thread for Hospital, Medical and Healthcare investment news, It is definitely an area which Birmingham excels in

Heres the latest investment..

£100m investment to research new health treatments
Source: The Information Daily - formerly eGov Monitor
Published Friday, March 2, 2012 - 15:21

More than £100 million is to be invested by the government in NHS Clinical Research Facilities to develop new treatments that will benefit thousands of patients.

The funding, announced yesterday, is to come from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and will be invested in research nurses and technicians at 19 Clinical Research Facilities across the UK.

Researchers will work to develop new therapies at these centres for a wide range of health conditions, including cancer, diabetes, dementia, obesity, strokes and rare diseases.

“The public and patients think it’s important that the NHS should support research into new treatments, and we agree,” said Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. “That’s why we’re investing over £100 million in research facilities, nurses and technicians to help make the NHS a world-class place to do research.”

R&D work at two of the 19 clinical research facilities to be funded, namely the University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust and Birmingham Children’s Hospital, will go into the study of rare diseases, gene therapy, trauma, infection and ageing.

A Health Research Bus will also be provided to the Birmingham team for conducting research in real-life scenarios within the community to facilitate further studies.

Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool is another beneficiary of the new funding. Here, the resources will go into research on early-stage trials of drugs for children suffering from cancer, arthritis, asthma and other critical health conditions. This is crucial research as children absorb drugs and usually metabolise very differently to adults.

Elsewhere, research by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will include developing therapies for peanut allergies. One in 50 children in the UK suffers from this allergy, which can cause severe reactions, even death.

http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/47426

[sefton66]

More info on the above article...

Birmingham awarded £13 million for fight against cancer
by Kat Keogh, Birmingham MailMar 5 2012



BIRMINGHAM patients are set for a share of £100 million fund in the fight against cancer, obesity and rare diseases.

A total of £12.8 million – the largest share of any area in the UK – has been awarded to a flagship clinical research centre based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Edgbaston.

The centre is jointly run by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust, the University of Birmingham Medical School and Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and is dedicated to finding new treatments for conditions including cancer, dementia and other diseases.

The funding was announced by controversial Health Secretary Andrew Lansley during a visit to the centre, where he met with patients currently undergoing treatment.

The cash, which will made available over a five-year period, will be also be used to conduct research into gene therapy, infection and ageing. Medical staff will also use a health research bus to conduct studies in difficult-to-reach sections of the population.

Mr Lansley’s visit was met with oppostion from Erdington Labour MP Jack Dromey, who said the Minister was “not welcome” in the city.

Read More http://www.birminghammail.net/news/t...#ixzz1oHCaK78H

[hoody]

Re Jack Dromney is this party politics or is he just being a dick?

[NeilM]

Originally Posted by hoody

Re Jack Dromney is this party politics or is he just being a dick?

Both, this is all he does, there is never anything constructive from him just finger pointing and getting digs in at the opposition, never mind how small and pitiful it seems to everyone else.

Dromey is a prat of the highest order, high ranking union rep, gets selected for Labour in Erdington, despite there being an all-women short-list championed by his wife, Harriet Harman.

Can't stand the bloke, makes me want to kick the TV whenever I see him, thankfully I'm quick enough to change channels before the urge becomes irresistible.

[howester89]

Originally Posted by hoody

Re Jack Dromney is this party politics or is he just being a dick?

I wouldn't welcome him in Birmingham either to be honest. Considering it will be him who is responsible if the NHS is savaged.

[sefton66]

Another Investment

The maternity unit at Birmingham Women's Hospital – one of England's busiest for births – will be extended, and new induction and recover suites added at a cost of £3.2m.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/20...?newsfeed=true

[Spread]

I may not have been paying attention but I've not seen this image of the Fisher House convalescence home for solders:
http://www.glennhowells.co.uk/content/news/447

[sefton66]

Its a good investment for Birmingham

Sparkbrook Community and Health Centre opened today

Sparkbrook community and health centre opens

The centre was built on the site of a church which was damaged when a tornado hit Birmingham in 2005

A £12m community and health centre has officially been opened in Birmingham.

The three-storey building accommodates three GP surgeries and baby, dental and stop-smoking clinics.

It is on the site of a Victorian-built church, Christ Church, which was badly damaged by a tornado which hit Birmingham in 2005.

The building will include the city council's customer service centres and replace temporary council offices in Mole Street.

Denise McLellan, chief executive of Birmingham and Solihull NHS, said the "unique centre" offered residents access to a wide range of health and community services under one roof and brought health services closer to people's homes.

'Improve lives'
Paul Tilsey, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat/Conservative-run council, added the project was a "vital element" in the regeneration of Sparkbrook.

"It will help improve people's lives and cut out duplication of services, saving the taxpayer money in the process," he said.

"I've watched the project develop from drawing board to reality, and these are exciting times for the area."

The centre was opened by Mr Tilsey, Ms McLellan and other officials.

The building accommodates GP practices and services which were previously delivered by Farm Road Health Centre.

The centre includes four rooms for community use and events and will house services currently provided by the Sparkbrook Family Centre. A garden and community library are also included.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ngham-17272371

[sefton66]

Small extension for a new Pharmacy at Birmingham Childrens Hospital

Application Details
Application Number 2012/02253/PA
Application Type Full Planning
Site Address Birmingham Children's Hospital Steelhouse Lane Birmingham B4 6NH
Proposal Erection of single storey front extension

[sefton66]

Fisher House: Work starts on Birmingham home for injured troops' families

A turf-cutting ceremony has taken place in Birmingham to mark the start of work to build free accommodation for the families of injured forces personnel.

The £4.2m facility is being funded by charities including Help for Heroes and the US-based Fisher House Foundation.

Known as a "Fisher House", it will mean relatives of soldiers being treated at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine can stay nearby.

The site is within walking distance of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The Duke of Gloucester cut the ceremonial first sod earlier.

A spokesperson from the hospital said it is hoped the building, which includes 18 en-suite rooms, will be ready to open early next year.

Families can currently stay at the Norton home near the hospital, where there are six bedrooms.

The first Fisher House for service families opened in the US in 1991.

Ken Fisher, chairman of the Fisher House Foundation said: "It's a smaller version of those in the US but we're going to bring the entire model to the UK including the design and the support system."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ngham-17812511


And a picture of what it will look like, anyone know where abouts it is? I think its infront of the hospital by the island just before the new bridge of the new bypass road? part of that site is fenced off and was a JCB on site today

[sefton66]

Birmingham hospital to open umbilical cord donor centre

The Anthony Nolan charity will run the centre at Birmingham Women's Hospital.

The charity said it had already recruited a supervising midwife for the centre and that the collectors would be in place within a month.

The centre, the first of its kind in the West Midlands, is expected to open in September.

Guy Parkes, from the Anthony Nolan charity, said a collection unit at a hospital cost more than £200,000 a year to run.

He said: "Instead of being incinerated, which is what usually happens, the cord is passed to one of our collectors who extracts the blood and that is sent to our centre in Nottingham where the stem cells are extracted."

'Good news'
The harvested stem cells have to be frozen to minus 180C for storage.

One in every 100 umbilical cords saved will be used to transplant stem cells, according to Mr Parkes.

A Worcestershire mother is raising money for the centre, after her son, who has leukaemia, was treated with stem cells from the US.

Fiona Harris from Kidderminster said: "When we heard that thousands [of cords] were being discarded every day and just chucked in the bin in this county we thought that we wanted to do something about this."

She said treatment using stem cells was much simpler than a bone marrow transplant from a donor.

The stem cells were injected directly into her son Charlie's bloodstream.

"We've had good news - we've been told the cord blood had now taken 100%, so his body has fully accepted it," she said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18248297

[sefton66]

Institute for Translational Medicine to be built in Birmingham
By: Information Daily Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, October 4, 2012 - 13:15 GMT

A new £24 million clinical research centre will be built in Birmingham, which brings together businesses and academics.

As part of the government’s ‘City Deal’, which aims to bring just under 11,000 jobs to the West Midlands region, the Institute for Translational Medicine will bring together clinical academics, trialists, stratified medicine teams, SMEs and the pharmaceutical sector.

The centre will provide an international centre of excellence for business and academics in the healthcare sector, and allow small companies and international pharmaceutical companies to work much more closeley with clinicians and academics.

This facility aims to translate cutting edge scientific research findings into treatments for patients across a range of major health issues including cancer and liver disease.

The £12 million funding from central government will be matched by the University of Birmingham and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Birmingham.

Charlie Craddock, who is Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, Professor of Haemato-oncology at the University of Birmingham and Founder of Cure Leukaemia, spoke to The Information Daily about the project.

Professor Craddock said, "In the last ten years it has become clear that Birmingham has huge strategic strengths in the delivering of clinical trials and stratified medicine.”

He continued, "What we are creating are rooms and offices that can be rented out by SMEs so they can actually live and breath for a period of weeks or months sitting at the heart of this translational environment.”

“But I think even more than that the Institute of Translational Medicine will be a magnet that will be attracting the best talent in the UK and Europe. And with it will come jobs and inward investment,” he added.

Dame Julie Moore, Chief Executive, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, commented, “This funding is a fantastic catalyst for the development of Life Sciences here in Birmingham.”

She said, “It enables the Trust to support the city in capitalising on the potential for wider economic growth associated with work in this sector but most importantly it will bring benefits for patients.

"The development of the city’s research capability is key to ensure potentially new and improved approaches to treatment.”

http://www.egovmonitor.com/2012/10/0...-in-birmingham

[sefton66]

Extension to children's hospital near Lancaster flyover side

Application Details
Application Number 2013/02797/PA
Application Type Full Planning
Site Address Birmingham Childrens Hospital Strategic Development Department Steelhouse Lane Birmingham B4 6NH
Proposal Erection of three storey cantilever rear and single storey front extension, infill of internal courtyard and internal reconfiguration

View
http://eplanning.birmingham.gov.uk/N...rod_DC_PLANAPP



http://eplanning.birmingham.gov.uk/N...rod_DC_PLANAPP

[loudrocksurfer]

Minister urged to help get Alex case moving

THE HEALTH minister has been called on to intervene in the ongoing review of hospital services and help get the process moving.

Members of the Save the Alex Campaign and the leaders of Redditch, Bromsgrove and Stratford councils have urged Dr Dan Poulter to get involved due to the continuing delay in allowing option two to be fully worked up which would see Trusts in Birmingham taking over the running of the Alexandra Hospital.

In a letter sent three weeks ago, which has yet to be replied to, campaigners told him they were concerned about the sustainability of services unless the process was moved on.

“We agree the outcome of the review will ultimately be a local decision and are not asking you to interfere in that decision, but we ask you to urgently intervene to ensure University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) is allowed full access to the required data so they can present their option to the public.”

Following the decision to downgrade A&E, paediatrics and maternity at the Alex in February, the review process has ground to a halt as Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has obtained legal advice indicating it would be unlawful for them to talk to one provider only without giving the opportunity to others.

As a result UHB has not been given access to the Woodrow Drive site or the data it needs to fully work up its option, although it would still involve changes to A&E, children’s and women’s services.

Dr Poulter has repeatedly stated he will not interfere in the final decision as it is a matter for the NHS in Worcestershire, but did say in a Westminster Hall debate in February local clinicians should bring both options forward as quickly as possible.

Another sticking point has been the heightened level of political sensitivity over the last seven weeks - known as purdah - as a result of the county council elections which prevents announcements which could unfairly favour a particular party or candidate.

But that comes to an end today (May 3) and Neal Stote, chairman of the Save The Alex campaign, said commissioners, Trust bosses and NHS England could have no more excuses.

“As of Friday we expect to know how option two will be worked up with the co-operation of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to provide sustainable local hospital services for the area,” he said.

“No ifs, no buts, the time for excuses is over, it’s time for action. The patients, public and staff at the Alex cannot afford to wait any longer.”

At a press briefing last week Penny Venables, chief executive of WAHT, indicated commissioners and senior health officials were working on a solution which could move the process forward which may involve some sort of market test - effectively offering all providers the opportunity to bid to run services at the Alex.

“If you look at what’s happening across the country you do need to do some sort of market testing and where they haven’t they are being challenged,” she added.

An announcement on the future of the process is expected to be made today (Friday).

http://www.bromsgrovestandard.co.uk/...ing-70096.html