Row over second emergency move of health facility

'Incredibly disappointing': Birmingham politicians hit out at NHS over emergency move of health facility

Alexander Brock - Local Democracy Reporter | Tuesday 10th December 2024 7:44am

The second emergency move of a Birmingham health facility due to concerns over crime has sparked a row between politicians and the NHS.

Warren Farm Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC), previously in Kingstanding, was initially moved following the discovery of RAAC, the lightweight concrete which is susceptible to deterioration over time.

The service was moved by the NHS to Erdington Health and Wellbeing Centre (EHWBC) as an “emergency and temporary” measure earlier this year.

But a recent report noted that there were “growing concerns” about safety and the environment surrounding the centre.

“While the temporary emergency relocation process has been successfully implemented, there are emerging concerns regarding an increase in anti-social behaviour, violence and other serious criminal activity in the vicinity of the UTC,” it said.

“Consequently, due to the extent and seriousness of the incidents in the vicinity of EHWBC […]. remaining on site brings potential risk of having to close the site without notice if future incidents present imminent danger.”

Reported incidents include threats of violence to staff members of the UTC and reports of gang-related conflict near the facility, which was renamed North Birmingham UTC.

A second “emergency temporary relocation” of the UTC is now set to take place, this time from Erdington High Street to Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield.

However, politicians have been left deeply concerned by the planned move of a health facility from the area and recently hit out at the NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board.

At a health scrutiny meeting this week, Erdington councillor Gareth Moore expressed frustration that he learnt about the second emergency move via a news story.

“I had to find out because a resident sent me a WhatsApp with the link to the [Local Democracy Reporting Service] article,” he said. “So it’s rather disappointing – as a courtesy, the NHS could have said ‘we’ve made this decision’.

“At no point has the NHS actually reached out and said we’ve got concerns about the issues of anti-social behaviour and crime on the high street.

“And that’s what surprised me, that this came out of the blue.”

He continued: “I’m aware we have problems on the high street and sadly there have been a number of serious incidents this year which is incredibly disappointing.

“But there is a lot of work ongoing to try and tackle that.”

Birmingham Erdington MP Paulette Hamilton also said she “objected in the strongest possible terms” to the emergency move in a letter which was read out during the meeting.

In particular, she said she was “incredibly disappointed” by the lack of meetings with both herself and the police before the decision was made.

“It could have been that alternative options in Erdington were explored,” she said. “This is simply not the way that elected members and patients should be treated by the NHS.”

Faith Button, chief delivery officer at the NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care, acknowledged that engagement on this issue had “broken down” during the meeting.

Justifying the move, she also said: “We have taken legal advice on this, we have got a duty of care – not only to our population but to our staff.

“People are now no longer coming, so we have taxpayers paying for a UTC which is not being used.”

She also stressed that the emergency move was not an attempt to bypass consultation.

“We have been working with West Midlands Police for a long period of time,” she said. “But it is getting so severe, our legal advice is that we need to trigger this move before something happens.”

‘Potential risk of closure’

A NHS document said relocation would be the most “straightforward solution” as long as it can be shown the impact on residents can be minimised while improving overall provision within the area.

It continued that the second emergency move would mean “no on-going risk to patient and staff safety” as well as newer facilities than the current site.

On the option of doing nothing and leaving the service in Erdington, the document said it was “not in the best interests of patients and staff attending or working at site due to the safety concerns”.

The closure of the service was also not recommended, with the document saying: “The loss of an Urgent Treatment Centre within our system […] would impact on other supporting services”.

An update, published in September, said a review of UTCs across Birmingham and Solihull was being carried out, including options for the permanent location of North Birmingham UTC.

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