University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) is considering reorganising some of its adult services across Solihull, Good Hope and Heartlands hospitals to improve outcomes and reduce waiting times for patients.

The specific services that the Trust would like to make changes to are trauma and orthopedics, and gynaecology services.

The proposed changes are not about removing any services or saving money; the Trust is investing £2.5m in its estate to provide high-quality, dedicated facilities, which will support the creation of centres of excellence for the different specialties.

The proposals mainly apply to surgical procedures only (operations) and may mean that patients may need to attend a hospital which is not their local hospital, for their operation. However, while some people may have to travel further for certain treatments, the vast majority would continue to be treated at their local hospital.

It is estimated the proposed changes would affect around ten patients a day. To put this in perspective, the hospitals see around 1,200 A&E attendances, more than 5,000 outpatients and 500 day case procedures a day.

There would be no proposed changes to where pre- and post-operative outpatient, X-ray, scans and therapy (e.g. physiotherapy) appointments take place – they would still take place at the patient’s local hospital. There will be no changes to children’s services.

The planned reorganisation is supported by a significant number of specialist clinicians (e.g. doctors and nurses) who see these proposals as the best and most sustainable way to deliver care to residents of Birmingham, Solihull and South Staffordshire.

For more information on the proposed service changes or to complete the patient survey, please see the related pages section below.