Nightingale Hospital - Birmingham

[Richard-Allen]

I have to admit to being totally confused.

The new Corona virus specialist Nightingale Hospital – Birmingham is capable of housing some 500 patients. This hospital was opened to a fanfare by Prince William on the 10th April. Now, three weeks on it still remains empty.

Patients with covid19 are still being cared for at regional hospitals. I had hoped that these regional hospitals would be freeing up beds to the Nightingale hospitals so that the treatment of conditions like liver disease can continue regionally.

This must be of great concern for some people. With the lockdown being in its sixth week. Many people have been turning to drinking alcohol at home. Alcohol sales in Britain were 30% higher than usual in March. In England, there are an estimated 586,780 dependent drinkers. Where are these people going to go when they need treatment?

Back in March, my wife has been told she would have to wait six months to see a gastro consultant. That appointment scheduled for August has just been cancelled indefinitely due to the coronavirus. Other localised patients with liver disease, must also be being turned away.

What I don’t understand is why these Nightingale hospitals remain empty and our regional hospitals are struggling to cope.

[Pingi]

My understanding is the Birmingham Nightingale Hospital is a stepdown hospital and so will be used for recovering patients once the number of newly diagnosed patients starts to fall. Then there will be plans to move patients from Midlands hospitals to the Nightingale hospital to start returning the original hospitals to cover their usual services. It has already been announce that Solihull will be changed to COVID 19 free by June 1st to enable cancer surgery to be performed

[Richard-Allen in reply to Pingi]

That is good news, thanks for the heads-up. I live in Stoke-on-Trent and COVID19 patients are still being treated here. The hospital is almost closed to all other routine appointments accept to A&E emergencies. So much confusion out there.

[Pingi in reply to Richard-Allen]

Solihull is a small hospital only about 200 beds, I think the larger hospitals will be opened up later

[Richard-Allen]

Many thanks for this Scrumbler, it is a little ironic that I am a member of the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, and I don't know what's going on. It just seems a waste of money and resources if this isn't going to be used: itv.com/news/central/2020-0...