Birmingham Children's Hospital is a specialist children's hospital located in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England. The hospital provides a range of specialist services and operates the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for the city. The service operates as part of Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust.

History

The hospital was founded by Thomas Pretious Heslop as the ''Birmingham and Midland Free Hospital for Sick Children'' at 138–9 Steelhouse Lane in 1862.''Children in Hospital – A Hundred Years of Child Care in Birmingham'', Rachel Waterhouse, Hutchinson & Co., 1962 It moved to a new site on Ladywood Middleway in 1917. In March 1986, a charity concert was held called " Heart Beat 86" at the nearby

National Exhibition Centre The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, England, near to Birmingham and Solihull. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International rail ...

, featuring

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

, which raised money for the hospital. In October 1998 the hospital returned to Steelhouse Lane, to the buildings previously used by the Birmingham General Hospital, as the Diana, Princess of Wales Children's Hospital – in honour of

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

, who had died the year before. The opening ceremony was carried out by the Queen. In 2007, a new extension designed by RPS Group was opened. The extension created a burns unit, one of three such centres of excellence in the country. As well as this, it established an outpatients department, a neonatal ward, a burns operating theatre, as well as additional classrooms for the Education Centre, allowing children to continue their education whilst undergoing medium to long-term care in the hospital.

Facilities

The trust led a consortium of organisations called Forward Thinking Birmingham commissioned to provide mental health services for young people in the city up to the age of 25 from April 2016. Services for adults were previously provided by Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. In 1970, surgeons completed the first separation of conjoined twins at the hospital.

Management

The hospital was managed by the Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Trust until 2017 when it merged with the Women's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to create the Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust.

Performance

The trust was named by the ''

Health Service Journal ''Health Service Journal'' (''HSJ'') is a news service that covers policy and management in the National Health Service (NHS) in England. History The '' Poor Law Officers' Journal'' was established in 1892. In 1930, it changed its name after ...

'' as one of the top hundred NHS trusts to work for in 2015. At that time it had 3236 full-time equivalent staff and a sickness absence rate of 3.39%. 89% of staff recommend it as a place for treatment and 74% recommended it as a place to work. The Trust's Professor Anita Macdonald, Consultant Paediatric Dietitian was awarded an OBE for services to Dietetics in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2015. In 2016, it became the first children's hospital to be rated Outstanding by the

Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care providers in England. It ...

References

External links