THE ‘Nightingale’ field hospital opened at the NEC this month is yet to receive a single coronavirus patient.
West Midlands leaders have lauded the empty hospital as a sign of the regional NHS trusts’ success in treating the pandemic.
Opened by Prince William on April 16, the emergency hospital in the exhibition halls was intended to treat 500 patients a day if needed.
Hundreds of contractors and soldiers worked around the clock to build the hospital in just a week.
Health chiefs at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust say the NEC could be expected to host the hospital for a further 18 months if coronavirus contagion continues.
Over 20,000 people have now died in UK hospitals from the Covid-19 disease.
Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, said: “NHS Nightingale Birmingham opened at the exact time the original data showed us it would be needed. However, our amazing hospitals have managed the demand and as a region we’ve responded well to the lockdown.
“The Nightingale hospital at the NEC remains empty and I hope it stays that way.”
Dr David Rosser, chief executive of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust said the hospital having received no patients is ‘a good thing.’
Dr Rosser believed the empty NEC showed the NHS had “absorbed” the extra pressure from the coronavirus pandemic.
“It was never going to be a great thing to have to open this extra capacity because it didn’t come with new staff,” he said. “And of course the more beds you open the more you need to stretch [resources].”
University Hospitals Birmingham, which manages Solihull hospital, is the biggest NHS trust in England and in the week of April 13 recorded more deaths than any other trust in the country.
