Press Release
Our New £2m Appeal To Transform Our Emergency Department
15 Jan, 2026
A young person from Northfield joined staff at our hospital on Thursday 15 January to launch our new £2million appeal to transform our hospital’s Emergency Department, where a lack of space is creating a barrier to the treatment and care it can offer.
Our Emergency Department is currently the only major trauma centre for children and young people in the Midlands. Designed to care for a maximum of 40,000 patients a year, increasingly, staff work around the clock delivering specialist treatment to over 67,000 sick kids annually – 67% more patients than was intended when the department was last updated in 2012, with the upward trend likely to continue.
As a result, bed space is limited and too small. This means patients and families experience wait times in a small and cramped waiting room. The current resuscitation (resus) area features three beds separated by curtains. Families have expressed they feel a lack of privacy when discussing their child’s care and added anxiety when placed next to a trauma case.
Our Emergency Department is now in urgent need of transformation. Its footprint needs to be expanded to allow for three new state-of-the-art resus rooms featuring all the latest life-saving technology, as well as a bigger, better equipped waiting room.
With Trust and NHS funding already secured, a multi-phase scheme has been developed to update and improve the entire department. we now needs to raise £2m to help accelerate and enhance the project.
Thanks to a £100,000 grant from Morrisons Foundation, £400,000 from the charity’s visionary network of Changemakers – made up of some of the region’s top business leaders, companies and entrepreneurs – plus £500,000 raised by our network of corporate organisations, there’s just £1m left to raise with the help of the public.
15-year-old Bella Hancox and her mum, Hazel, know more than most the challenges families can face in the Emergency Department. They’ve spent the last three years in and out of hospital managing the chronic pain Bella experiences.
Bella was born with cerebral palsy, a neurological condition which affects her movement, motor skills and speech. Until recently, Bella managed her condition at home and though she used a wheelchair, she was able to lead a full life. However, in 2023, Bella began experiencing debilitating chronic pain.
Hazel brought Bella to our Emergency Department and she had the first of many admissions to bring her pain under control with medication. Doctors determined Bella’s pain was unexplained and unrelated to her cerebral palsy. Unfortunately, just three weeks after her first stay in hospital, the pain flared up again and Hazel brought her straight back.
This has been the cycle the family has been in ever since, so they’ve grown accustomed to our Emergency Department, but visiting hasn’t got any easier.
Bella said: “As well as my cerebral palsy, I have autism and I can find the Emergency Department really overstimulating – especially when it’s busy and there’s lots of noise and bright lights – and because the waiting room is such a small space, there’s no way to get away from other patients.”
Plans for the new Emergency Department include a larger waiting room, meaning families won’t be cramped next to each other, and a new sensory room will provide a quiet and calming space for neurodiverse children.
More recently Bella has been fitted with a central line to help her receive nutrition because her chronic pain means she’s unable to eat. This makes her more prone to infection, so as a result, staff make every effort to ensure Bella is seen straight away, but the department’s lack of space still affects the family.
Hazel said: “Even when Bella doesn’t have to wait, the Emergency Department is still difficult to navigate with a wheelchair. It’s tricky to get by without moving things and on previous occasions, other families who arrived before us have had to be moved to other spaces to accommodate us, which feels quite embarrassing. Having beds that offer more space around us will feel like a massive improvement.”
Katie Johnston, Lead Nurse for Urgent Care at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, said: “Our staff work around the clock, 365 days of the year, to deliver urgent and often life-saving treatment, however the environment in which we offer that care, is no longer suitable. We’re seeing more young people come through our doors, with more complex needs, so it’s essential for us to expand our clinical spaces and introduce new technology, to allow us to treat patients more efficiently as well as reduce wait times and improve outcomes.”
Miranda Williams, Director of Public Fundraising for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “So many people start their hospital journey with us here in the Emergency Department and it’s essential the environment matches the world-class care on offer. With the new plans we will transform the space to offer a calmer environment, which will reduce stress and anxiety for patients and families, plus provide the privacy and dignity they deserve.
“Thanks to our wonderful charitable partners, we now have just £1m left to raise. I’d encourage everyone to get behind this appeal and help us get over the finish line. As the only major paediatric trauma centre in the Midlands, it will make a massive difference to our region’s children and young people.”
As well as the new resuscitation area, other features of the refurbishment include a new waiting room with child friendly additions such as artwork on the walls and ceilings. There will also be much-needed facilities for some of the department’s most vulnerable patients, such as a quiet sensory room, a Changing Places accessible toilet, a baby change and feeding room, a dedicated safe space for mental health patients and a family room where doctors can speak with family members in a calm and supportive space.
The transformation will take place in multiple phases, so the department’s life-saving services remain unaffected. Work has recently begun on the new waiting area, which will be open to patients and families in mid-Spring.
Find out more about our Emergency Department Appeal and donate.
