Woman critical after Birmingham hospital crash

A woman was critically injured today after a car crashed into a hospital.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said the woman, 64, was sitting on a bench in the grounds of Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, when a car hit the wall of a WH Smith kiosk, which forms part of a foyer area in a treatment centre at the site.

She was treated by staff at the hospital for a head injury after the crash, shortly after 10am, before being transferred to the major trauma centre at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

West Midlands Police said the driver of the car, a red Peugeot 107, was an 83-year-old woman from Sutton Coldfield.

A spokeswoman said the 64-year-old woman, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, suffered a serious head injury.

A 56-year-old woman from Dudley, West Midlands, suffered minor injuries in the collision.

An ambulance service spokesman said: "On arrival the crew found clinicians from the hospital treating a woman who had been on a bench outside the kiosk as well as the driver of the car.

"The woman who was outside the hospital was taken to A&E by hospital staff. Ambulance staff treated the driver of the car.

"The elderly woman appeared to have suffered only minor injuries but was taken into the hospital as a precaution.

"At 12.25pm, the ambulance service was asked to transfer the patient who had been outside the WH Smith's from Good Hope to the Major Trauma Centre at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

"A second ambulance and the Midlands Air Ambulance from Cosford were dispatched. The helicopter carries the Merit team which includes a specialist trauma doctor and critical care paramedic.

"The 64-year-old Tamworth woman was taken by land ambulance with the Merit team on board and with a police escort to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where she was taken to the operating theatre for specialist care."

Police urged witnesses to contact officers investigating the crash on 101.

More to follow

PA