This is what the Building looks like:
[Image linked from http://www.bsmht.nhs.uk]
Since Vincent road is now closed, and a new road from University station goes past the Oleander, the detailed instructions below are out of date. This new map may be useful, as it shows the route to the Oleander via New Fosse Way, which did not exist when this web page was created in December 2009.Unfortunately, like many maps that are hand drawn by people who do not understand cartography the new map may be misleading because of the spatial distortions. Moreover, it does not show Leasow drive, which may be a useful access route for some, e.g. pedestrians.
In December 2009, I had to visit a colleague who was in the Oleaster Building which I thought was part of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital adjacent to the University of Birmingham. I thought I would find information on the hospital web site. However the web site http://www.uhb.nhs.uk/Home/Home.aspx is really awful for people who want to find these new buildings. It has an unhelpful list of phone numbers and maps, as well as being very slow (apparently on a microsoft server). Presumably producing decent web sites to help patients and their visitors is not one of this government's targets for the NHS so instead they use appalling technology and mainly use it to boast about their activities instead of providing information needed by 'end-users'.
I thought the Oleaster and Barberry buildings were both part of the Queen Elizabeth hospital, in part because they were mentioned in news items I had seen on the hospital web site. In a well run NHS it would be easy to find information about all the NHS buildings in a particular location, and neighbouring hospitals would refer to one another, especially if they offer different services, but not this NHS.
When I complained via the feedback email address I was given this pathetic answer:
"As the Oleaster Building is part of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust we do not feature it on the UHB site."I was also given a link to the mental health web site which turned out also to be useless (see below).
Having failed to find a useful map on either web site, I thought the simplest thing would be to walk up to the hospital and ask where the building was. So I went past University station, saw the sign to the hospital main entrance and followed it. Eventually those "main entrance" signs led me into a building with a long corridor containing only one notice: "EXIT" pointing at the door through which I had entered. Not much of a main entrance!
I waited for someone in a white coat to pass and asked for the Barberry building. He had never heard of it, but someone else passing by kindly stopped and told me it was some way away on Vincent drive. So I had to go back to the roundabout. I did not find a single sign telling people how to get to the station, or the university or the psychiatric hospital. A properly run hospital site should have prominent notices with maps, a 'You are here' indicator and clearly marked locations of buildings to help first-time visitors find their way round (in addition to a decent web site).
Having eventually found the Barberry and Oleaster buildings, I thought I should provide directions for others. Google search for those buildings will take people to this web page since it is more useful than alternatives, and google is clever. You may also end up at a BBC web site reporting how politicians boast about how many billions they have managed to spend. (Which our government ministers frequently do when they can't point to real achievements.)
The Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital labelled on the map (possibly wrongly labelled!) consists of (at least) two new buildings, the upper one adjacent to Vincent drive (the Barberry Building) and the one below it at the end of Leasow drive (the Oleaster Building). Zoom out to see the relationship to the University of Birmingham, the University Station, the Edgbaston area, the Bristol road, etc.
The buildings are also shown schematically on the sketch map in this PDF file which I did NOT find on the hospital web site!
The entrance to Barberry building is on Vincent drive, and can easily be reached on foot from the university station (made visible on the google map by zooming out, or dragging the map down/left).
From the roundabout at the station, go down Vincent drive (currently full of road-works that make it necessary to walk on the right side (north) of the road).
The Barberry building is on the left (south side) of the road.
This is what the Building looks like:
[Image linked from http://www.bsmht.nhs.uk]
It is possible to walk down to the Oleaster round the left of the Barberry building, but I don't recommend it: there is no path, and it could be muddy when not covered in snow as it was when I tried. So it is now best to go through the Barberry.
Go into reception and say you want to go to the Oleaster Building. The receptionist will let you through a door. Go to the end of the corridor. A lift is on the right. Use it to go to the basement (button B). Go out through the exit to the right of the lift. (You have to press a button on left to unlock the exit door).
Continue downhill on the road that curves round to your left,
and the entrance to Oleaster Building will be in front of you.
It is visible on the google map as the curved building next to the
word "Hospital". This is what it looks like (though your view
will be from further to the right):
[Image linked from www.bsmhft.nhs.uk]
When you come back, you can enter the basement at the rear of the Barberry building by pressing the reception button to the right of the door, and ask to be let in. Then go up the lift to 'ground' floor, turn left and head for exit. Again you will need to press a button to get out.
It is also possible to get to the Oleaster from Harborne Lane, via Leasow Drive, as indicated on the bottom left of the map. There is a small 'Pay and Display' parking area. Drive east along Leasow Drive turn left at the end, just before the Oleaster Building. The parking area is on the left, where the google map currently shows some sort of works building. It also looks as if a multi-story car park is being constructed adjacent to Vincent drive.
I sincerely hope that the hospital medical staff are more competent than the managers and web site designers, who don't seem to care much about the problems of patients and their visitors who have not yet got to the hospital.
I cannot imagine why the buildings were not linked in such a way as to serve pedestrians coming from both directions without the fuss involved in going in and out of security doors.
I was told that the required information would be on the Mental Health Trust's Web site. However that is another utterly appalling NHS web site (like several other NHS sites I have tried using in the recent past). If I try the 'how to find us' link, I get an alphabetical index but no matter which letter I try I always get the same obscure list. The same happens if I click on 'Show All'. If I click on '0-9' I get the same arbitrary collection, but with separate number options at the bottom of the page. Clicking on one of the numbers gives an arbitrary assortment of sites. The last time I tried clicking on "3" gave a group of buildings including Barberry and Oleaster. The map that is supposed to help people find the sites is useless: it is just a very low resolution map of the general area, with no indication of where the buildings are. Choosing the option to zoom in also gives no useful information.
The fact that (in January 2010, weeks after the roadworks began) the
roadworks page on that web site states:
"Work
on the new road junctions to access the new hospital will began
on Monday 9 November, affecting traffic flow on Vincent Drive."
is consistent with the general poor quality of its design and
implementation -- utterly shoddy.
A message for NHS management, and defenders of the NHS
It is clear that whoever designed and implemented that web site is not up to the task and should be replaced. It is also clear that it has never been tested properly. It is clear that NHS management not only failed in selecting staff and technology, but also have no idea how to do requirements analysis for a web site, and never bothered to check whether the job had been done properly.This is unfortunately the sort of thing that will provide strong support for those who wish to see the NHS replaced.
(This web site is not unique: I have seen evidence of appalling design even in university web sites and information services, whose designers sometimes do not understand much about the functions and operations of a university, which they tend to confuse with those of a bank or business organisation.)
I tested the web site on both firefox and opera on a linux machine, and someone else tested it for me on windows. It doesn't work at all. It looks as if the interface would be awful even if the options worked as the designer intended because it lacks any relevant structure for patients or visitors wishing to go to a site: there is just an obscure alphabetic index without any indication of which items are ordered. I.e. it does not have directions separated by function. I expect our good first year students could have done very much better.
I later found this planning document, which includes a map labelled as "the Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre", which contrary to the other information I had been given did include the Barberry and Oleaster buildings, though only in a future phase with Vincent Drive removed!
(Incidentally, am I the only person who thinks the new hospital, especially when viewed in the distance from the Selly Park area, looks as if someone has plonked a collection of gas tanks there. Here is an aerial view. )
Maintained by
Aaron Sloman
School of Computer Science
The University of Birmingham
Please report errors and make suggestions for improvement.
