After years of planning , work on our trust’s newest facility in Birmingham has finally begun. The Yardley Green hospital development will create more than 300 jobs for the surrounding community in Bordesley Green and beyond.
With funding finalised by the Department of Health, and final planning permission granted by Birmingham City Council, work began on clearing the site in Yardley Green Road in February 2011. The hospital is due to be completed in Autumn 2012.
However, the groundwork in preparing for this multi-million pound facility is not just about clearing soil and digging foundations. Our trust’s community engagement team have been staging a variety of events, including educational plays and seminars, in the local area to inform people about the development and to tackle the stigma around mental health. One in four people will experience a mental health problem during their lifetime.
A series of talks on topics such as learning disabilities, domestic violence, eating disorders and how drugs can impact health and wellbeing, have been held at Phoenix Hall, in Bordesley Village, to help increase public awareness of mental health issues. More than 100 people have also attended free performances of Unsent Letters – a play delivered in partnership by our trust, Birmingham Rep and the Hearth Centre – at venues across the city including St Paul’s Vicarage in Bordesley Green .The play centres on Peggy, a service user in a medium secure unit, regarded as an unfit mother by her son, Bradley, who is put up for adoption at the age of seven. Peggy can only communicate with him through birthday cards sent to an anonymous PO Box address. A series of monologues which represent the letters she can’t send to him over the years, which give an insight into the stigma experienced by people with mental health difficulties – and how it can affect those around them. Each performance was followed by a debate and a wide ranging discussion on what can be done to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health.
Community screenings of a short film called The Revolving Door, which shows how important it is for services and communities to work together to help those struggling with their mental health, have also taken place. With plenty more community events planned, keep an eye out in our trust magazine Trust Talk for further details.
Letters have also been hand-delivered to hundreds of homes in the vicinity of the new hospital, to let them know when work would begin and the trust’s vacancy bulletin outlining job opportunities are being distributed within the community on a regular basis.
Interserve, who are building the new hospital, were chosen as the main contractor because they are a member of the Considerate
Contractors scheme, which means they promise to keep disruption to the local community to a minimum.
Progress can be monitored via our development slideshow and via our Twitter account @BSMHFT, while information on jobs at Yardley Green and in the wider trust can also be found on the NHS Jobs website .
Anyone with questions about this development can call 0800 988 3367. Alternatively queries can be sent via email to community@bsmhft.nhs.uk
