Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in Smethwick will finally open to the public this weekend – six years after it was originally due to open.

The huge new hospital, believed to cost around £1bn, opens its doors from 5am today Sunday, October 6.

The opening of the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital comes as changes to Sandwell General Hospital and City Hospital in Dudley Road also come into force.

The A&E department at Sandwell General Hospital also closes its doors this weekend with services transferring to the new hospital.

Here’s everything you need to know about the big opening and all the planned changes: When does the hospital open?

The hospital opens on Sunday, October 6.

What is at the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital?

The new hospital has more than 730 beds, a new emergency department and dedicated children’s A&E, more than a dozen operating theatres and a new maternity unit.  Is the A&E at City Hospital closing down?

City Hospital A&E remains open until Sunday, November 10.

And what about the A&E at Sandwell Hospital? 

Sandwell A&E closes at 5am on Sunday, October 6 to coincide with the opening of the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital. 

How much has the hospital cost?

The cost of building the hospital has now risen to at least £750m – with running costs expected to push the total cost to nearly £1bn.  Why will it cost nearly £1bn?

A report by the National Audit Office on the collapse of Carillion and its involvement in the hosptial in 2020, which was also much-delayed, revealed the cost of building and running the hospital for the first 30 years would reach nearly £1 billion.

The audit blamed the now-defunct company for pricing jobs too low to meet specifications and warned that the cost would rise by more than 40 per cent and up to five years over deadline. 

Shortages in construction jobs and materials forced the NHS trust to admit it would miss the 2022 deadline. A spring 2024 opening date was then missed before bosses pushed the date back again to autumn. 

Why has it taken so long to open?

The ‘super hospital’ was expected to open in October 2019 and cost around £350m but has been hampered by several delays and rising costs. 

Why such a long delay?

Work on the new Black Country hospital began in January 2016 and was expected to take 34 months to complete.

The first of several delays pushed back the opening date by another year from October 2018 to later in 2019. 

The original contractor Carillion, which was building the hospital went into administration, partly due to issues with the new PFI hospital contract, creating extra delays.

Negotiations began over a new contractor with Swedish-based company Skanska saying the new hospital would need another £125m and would also be 18 months late.

Months later, a new contractor had still not been confirmed and the unfinished – and deteriorating site – was not likely to open until at least 2022. 

And what happened then?

A consortium of banks funding the huge hospital project pulled out in June 2018 and the government cancelled the PFI contract for the hospital’s construction. 

In the meantime, NHS bosses awarded a £13m contract to Balfour Beatty to protect the building while a main contractor was sought to finish building the hospital. 

The government announced in August 2018 that it would provide money to finish building the hospital after a long search for a new contractor returned fruitless.

The region’s NHS trust was still having problems finding a new contractor in November and the opening of the then half-finished hospital could be pushed back beyond 2022.

It didn’t end there?

Meanwhile, NHS boundary disputes, which could have seen Sandwell and West Birmingham split, threatened to add more delays to the lagging project.

Bids from new, and long-involved contractors were invited in January 2019, with the work expected to start later that year and be finished by 2021.

Balfour Beatty, reportedly the only company to bid for the work, was still awaiting approval in September.

A £267m contract was then signed with work expected to start by the end of 2019 and be completed by summer 2022. 

What is happening to patients at Sandwell Hospital and City Hospital?

Around 600 patients will be moved to the new hospital over the next two months.

As many as 60 ambulances will transfer people from the two existing hospitals with roughly 300 moving from Sandwell Hospital on October 6.

What will happen to Sandwell General Hospital and City Hospital?

Sandwell Hospital A&E will close at 5am on October 6 with services transferring to the new hospital.

Sandwell will become an urgent treatment centre, open 12 hours a day, seven days a week. The hospital’s wards will be refurbished for patients needing longer stays but not a hospital bed. 

The hospital trust said the new treatment centre would be bigger and be able to cope with more patients and help reduce waiting times. 

Birmingham Treatment Centre, Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre and the Sheldon building will remain at the City Hospital site.

The Birmingham Treatment Centre houses outpatient and short-stay surgery. It has a chemotherapy unit.

Major imaging services will be based there, as well as key diagnostic functions for common services like respiratory illnesses.

Plans for up to 750 new homes on the remainder of the site were revealed last year. 

How do I get to Midland Metropolitan University Hospital by bus?

The following services will serve the hospital from September 29:  No. 54/54A – will be combined into one route to serve Midland Metropolitan University Hospital No. 89 – this service will now terminate at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital instead of Bearwood.

No. 82/87 – journeys from Birmingham will be diverted to serve the new Grove Lane stops. Journeys towards Birmingham will continue their existing route and serve the bus stop on Dudley Road.

How do I get to Midland Metropolitan University Hospital by train?

The nearest rail station to the new hospital is Smethwick Rolfe Street – around a mile away.  How do I get to Midland Metropolitan University Hospital by car?

Parking for patients and visitors is available from the front of the hospital building, accessible from Grove Lane, Smethwick, B66 2QT.

The hospital also has a number of electric vehicle charging points.