£370 million Smethwick super hospital named
Thursday 28th October 2010, 4:31PM BST.
The £370 million new super hospital in Smethwick is to be named The Midland Metropolitan Hospital.
The announcement was made at a meeting of the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust board today.
Black Sabbath frontman, Birmingham born Ozzy Osbourne had publicly backed The Midland Metropolitan Hospital name.
He thought the title would “stand out” and said he could see people referring to it as “The Met”.
A total of 680 potential names were sent to Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust after it appealed for ideas.
These were whittled down to a final four.
The shortlist also included Birmingham and Black Country Hospital, James Brindley Hospital and Grove Lane Hospital.
A total of 952 people voted for their favourite name before the October 6 deadline.
An outline business case for the hospital at Grove Lane was approved by the NHS West Midlands Health Authority Board earlier this month.
The scaled down plans will see 255 fewer beds than was originally planned.
The hospital, due to open in 2016 is now expected to include 666 hospital beds and 129 community ones, a total of 795.
The new hospital, which will replace Sandwell Hospital in West Bromwich and City Hospital on the Smethwick and Birmingham border, has already seen its costs slashed from £484million to £370million.
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The name is about as antisceptic as the new Britain that they are trying to created.No towns,no personalities,no royalty,no one religious,no social benefactor.Void of all imagination,but pleasing with an outdated non-green American twang of the thirties.Sorry but it is symptomatic of the cultural decline.
Why not “District” and a number like a post code ? Love to know what non-person will open it !
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A brilliant idea but do we really need it?
The location is bad enough now for transport and parking, how are patients expected to get there?
When we have so many hospitals around the midlands, doesn’t it make sense to split the amount among these hospitals so that thy will be improved and give a better cover to the whole of the midlands.
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666 beds? No wonder Ozzy got behind this!
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what a load of rubbish, it’s a healthcare establishment not a hotel!
What’s it going to be shortened to? The Midland Metro? That’ll be easy to understand for foreign visitors.
Let’s hope the ‘brains’ who named it aren’t the ones running it!
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It’s a shame the Metro doesn’t run any where near it. Ozzy Osborne they linked his genetics to the Neanderthals. More research could be done by the idiots at this hospital – no smoking within 50 miles… etc…
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