News and reports

The Trust aims to discharge patients from hospital in a safe and effective manner to return home/community bed/care facility.
The Discharge Lounge frees up hospital beds as early as possible, thus reducing the length of time that patients in the Emergency Department and coming in for surgery must wait for a bed to become available.

Discharge planning is co-ordinated by members of the nursing and medical team. They plan for a patient’s discharge from the time they are admitted into hospital to help ensure it goes as smoothly as possible. The Discharge Lounge is a comfortable
environment for patients who have been discharged from the ward areas by a doctor and are awaiting medication, discharge documents and transport.
The lounge offers a relaxing environment which is quieter than a ward where patients’ needs can continue to be met.

Healthwatch Sandwell published a report Diabetes in Sandwell in March 2024. 10.1% of Sandwell adult patients are recorded as having diabetes, exceeding West Midlands National average figures, projection are that it diabetes in Sandwell will continue to rise. The report highlighted that raising awareness of diabetes in communities and prevention work with patients diagnosed as prediabetic is key to minimising risk of development of type 2 diabetes and reducing the percentage of patients with diabetes in Sandwell and consequent demand on diabetes health care services.

Healthwatch Sandwell collaborated with the NHS Youth Worker Team Manager in Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust to create a report to spotlight a youth worker pilot project for young people with long term conditions. The short funding timelines for the pilot project were highlighted alongside the impacts. The spotlight report called for consideration of extension and time and funding for the pilot project work.

Join us at our next Independent Strategic Advisory Board meeting. All meeting details can be found below.

Our July 2024 Insight Report is now ready for you to see! If you want to keep up to date with what local people are telling us, take a look at our Insight reports.

Here are the meeting minutes from our Independent Strategic Advisory Board meeting July 2024

Harvest View (opened 24th November 2022) is an integrated social care and health facility with 80 en-suite rooms alongside communal areas for Service Users who need specialist support from both social care and health staff all under one roof. The focus is on reablement1 with a view to helping Sandwell residents get back home after a hospital stay or those who need some structured support to avoid a hospital stay altogether.

Our Annual Report is now live! We have been working hard during 2023-2024 to listen to the voices of local people and influence changes in the services that people use.

Take a look at what Healthwatch Sandwell have been hearing during May and June.

Please see a snap shot of our Diabetes Prevention week information!

The rewards of foster caring extend far beyond the positive influence on a child; as fostering can lead to personal growth, fulfilment, and a sense of purpose to your own life. As of 31st March 2021, there were 45,370 fostering households and 76,640 foster carers in England. This is a 2% and 4% increase since 2014 to 2015, respectively.