Millions due to be ploughed into Walsall Manor Hospital
A multi-million pound cash injection to help Walsall Manor Hospital cope with an influx of patients from Staffordshire was expected to be given the go-ahead today by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
It comes as he announces the future of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.
He will today decide whether the trust, which runs Stafford and Cannock Hospitals, should be dissolved and services stripped from Stafford Hospital.
Under the £220 million plans Stafford will be taken over by UHNS and see its A&E closed overnight, see its maternity unit downgraded, and lose almost all urgent care cases. As part of the plans to strip key services from Stafford Hospital, £130million is being put aside for new building works at hospitals in Walsall, Wolverhampton, Cannock, Stafford and Stoke.
Bosses at the Manor say around £14m is needed for new buildings to cope. Cannock Hospital would be taken over by the Royal Wolverhampton Trust. Mr Hunt is due to deliver his final decision today.
