Overview

• He officially opened the 736-bed Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in Smethwick and unveiled a commemorative plaque for the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust.
• On an elderly care ward, he chatted with 85-year-old patient Jacqueline Page and joked about growing older, saying the “bits don’t work so well” past 70.
• Speaking with 73-year-old prostate cancer patient Matthew Shinda, he discussed early detection and offered his own update, saying he was “not too bad.”
• He met the hospital’s first newborn, Hernata Yonas, and spoke with her parents, Semhar Tesfu and Yonas Kflu.
• The hospital visit followed a tour of Birmingham’s Oratory of St Philip Neri as he continues public engagements during ongoing cancer treatment first disclosed in 2024.