[VIDEO] – Nightingale Birmingham hospital officially opened with Royal virtual visit

The Nightingale Hospital situated at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) has been officially opened today (16th April) with The Duke of Cambridge via video link and Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Sir Simon Stevens from NHS England and West Midlands Mayor,Andy Street.

The newly transformed hospital, which took under a fortnight to ‘plan and fit out’, will help ease pressure on hospitals in the Midlands – providing extra capacity to local services dealing with the increased number of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting with 500 beds, the field hospital has the capacity to scale up to 4,000 beds if needed.

The Duke of Cambridge declared the hospital officially open via a video link.

Dr David Rosser, chief executive of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB), and the new NEC-based Nightingale,  said: “The Nightingale Hospital is going to take patients who don’t need really complex care; ventilation, dialysis, that sort of thing, out of the main hospitals.”

Phenomenal

Morag Gates, project director of the Birmingham Nightingale said: “We’ve managed to plan and fit out a hospital in less than two weeks, which is phenomenal”

“It is the best example of teamwork I’ve ever known and I’ve worked in the health service since 1979.”

 

COVID-19 Coronavirus resources – please see HERE