Queen's Medical Centre (QMC)

Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham is one of the United Kingdom's largest hospitals and a flagship NHS teaching hospital, part of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH). Located on Derby Road in Nottingham, QMC opened in 1977 and was at the time the largest purpose-built teaching hospital in the UK. With over 1,300 inpatient beds when combined with the adjacent Nottingham City Hospital (its sister hospital within the same trust), it remains one of the highest-volume NHS hospital sites in England, treating over 2 million patients per year across all settings.

QMC is affiliated with the University of Nottingham's School of Medicine, one of the UK's largest medical schools, making QMC one of England's premier academic medical centres. The hospital is a designated Major Trauma Centre for the East Midlands region — one of 27 such centres in England, each providing the highest level of trauma care for the most severely injured patients — and handles trauma cases from across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, and beyond. The QMC neurosciences unit is one of the UK's most highly regarded — neurology, neurosurgery, and neurorehabilitation are core strengths, with the Regional Spinal Injuries Centre at the site.

QMC is also home to Nottingham Children's Hospital, which provides tertiary paediatric medicine and surgery to children across the East Midlands. Nottingham University Hospitals Trust has a high profile in emergency surgery, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, oncology, and cardiovascular medicine, with research programs generating internationally published clinical outputs. Note: A previous version of this profile incorrectly described Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. This profile has been fully rewritten to describe the correct institution — Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham, England.

Queen's Medical Centre provides an exceptionally broad range of specialist NHS clinical services as a major regional teaching hospital. Neurosciences is one of QMC's defining clinical strengths — the neurology department manages conditions including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, motor neurone disease, migraine, and stroke, while the neurosurgery department performs brain tumor surgery (including awake craniotomy for eloquent-area tumors), spinal surgery, and vascular neurosurgery for cerebral aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations. The Regional Spinal Injuries Centre at QMC manages acute spinal cord injuries and provides specialist rehabilitation for patients with tetraplegia and paraplegia from across the East Midlands. Major trauma surgery covers damage control surgery, orthopaedic trauma, thoracic trauma, and intensive care for the most severely injured patients. Emergency medicine is delivered by one of England's busiest emergency departments, managing over 120,000 adult emergency attendances annually. Cardiology and cardiovascular medicine services include interventional cardiology (coronary stenting, TAVI), complex electrophysiology, and heart failure. Gastroenterology and hepatology provide complex upper and lower GI management and liver disease services. Oncology covers systemic therapy, clinical trials, and surgical oncology. Nottingham Children's Hospital provides paediatric surgery, paediatric intensive care, neonatal intensive care, and specialist paediatric medicine. Orthopaedics, urology, gynaecology, ENT, ophthalmology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, and plastic surgery complete the comprehensive clinical portfolio.

Queen's Medical Centre occupies a very large building footprint on Derby Road in Nottingham, comprising multiple clinical towers connected by internal corridors. The hospital's major trauma capabilities are supported by a trauma bay with direct CT imaging access, hybrid operating theatres capable of combined surgical and interventional radiology procedures, and a dedicated Major Trauma Unit for post-operative and ongoing trauma management. Neurosciences facilities at QMC include neuroimaging capability (3T MRI, CT, functional MRI), neurophysiology (EEG, EMG, evoked potentials), dedicated neurosurgical theatres, and neurorehabilitation wards for complex neurological recovery. Nottingham Children's Hospital within the QMC building has a dedicated paediatric intensive care unit (PICU), neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), paediatric operating theatres, paediatric emergency department, and specialist paediatric ward accommodation. Cardiac catheterization laboratories support the interventional cardiology program. A comprehensive radiology department covers MRI, CT, PET-CT, digital angiography, ultrasound, and nuclear medicine. The pathology service provides haematology, biochemistry, microbiology, histopathology, and clinical genetics testing. An endoscopy suite, lithotripsy, and robotic surgical system support the gastroenterology and urology programs. The University of Nottingham's Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) is co-located with NUH, driving translational research in gastrointestinal, liver, and musculoskeletal diseases.

Queen's Medical Centre, as an NHS hospital, provides care free at the point of use to UK residents and to overseas visitors for emergency and immediately necessary treatment. International patients may access QMC's specialist NHS services on a private or self-pay basis where clinical capacity permits, particularly for services not available in their home countries such as complex neurosurgery, major trauma management, or specialist paediatric care. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has arrangements for overseas patients and private referrals through its private patient office. Nottingham is the East Midlands' largest city and is served by East Midlands Airport (approximately 15 miles from the hospital), with frequent rail services from London St Pancras (80 minutes) making it readily accessible for UK and European patients. East Midlands Airport provides direct international connections to major European cities. Interpreter services are available at QMC for the major community languages in Nottingham and the East Midlands, including Polish, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, and others. International patients and their referring physicians seeking information about accessing specialist care at QMC should contact the Nottingham University Hospitals Trust patient services team at enquiries@nuh.nhs.uk.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, which operates Queen's Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital, is regulated by NHS England and inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The trust holds NHS Foundation Trust status. QMC's Major Trauma Centre designation is awarded by NHS England as part of the national Major Trauma Network, based on demonstrated capability, volume, and outcomes in managing major trauma — a designation subject to periodic review by NHS England's Specialised Commissioning team. The Regional Spinal Injuries Centre is a nationally commissioned specialised service, subject to NHS England's specialist commissioning quality standards. The University of Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) — jointly designated with NUH by NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) — recognises the hospital's translational research capability in gastrointestinal, liver, and musculoskeletal diseases. Postgraduate medical training is provided across all major specialties under NHS England's medical education structure and University of Nottingham accreditation. QMC participates in the full national NHS clinical audit program portfolio and reports performance data to national specialty registries including TARN (trauma audit and research network), NICOR (cardiac outcomes), and the National Joint Registry, enabling external benchmarking of clinical outcomes.