{"id":212388,"date":"2020-08-23T08:21:15","date_gmt":"2020-08-23T08:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=212388"},"modified":"2020-08-26T07:23:18","modified_gmt":"2020-08-26T07:23:18","slug":"necs-giant-nightingale-hospital-scaled-down-after-never-being-used","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=212388","title":{"rendered":"NEC’s giant Nightingale hospital ‘scaled down’ after never being used"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jane Hayes \u2013 Birmingham Mail Aug 8, 2020<\/strong><\/h1>\n
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One of the Florence Nightingale hospitals that were set to deal with an expected throng of coronavirus patients but which have remained almost empty. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

The giant NHS Nightingale Hospital created at the NEC in case local hospitals were overwhelmed by coronavirus is being scaled down, we can reveal today.<\/span><\/p>\n

The original arena location – capable of providing more than 2,000 emergency beds – is being emptied of beds and a smaller version is being created on the NEC estate.<\/span><\/p>\n

We understand workers are currently dismantling facilities so the giant hall can be returned to the NEC<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was never used by coronavirus patients.<\/span><\/p>\n

NHS chiefs said the Nightingale is not closing down as an entity, saying “a smaller standby facility for capacity for up to 400 beds is being retained.”<\/span><\/p>\n

University Hospitals Birmingham<\/strong><\/span>,<\/a> who ran the facility, told us: \u201cWe are in the process of agreeing with the NEC that a smaller standby facility is created to support the NHS until March 2021. This provides us with the necessary provisions and allows the NEC to get back to business.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They later added: “NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham is not closing down.”<\/span><\/p>\n

A worker posted a short video earlier today on Twitter, purportedly from inside the venue, showing staff taking down bed bays. The video also scans the space and intones: “What a waste of f****** money that was, look at that, hundreds of beds.”<\/span><\/p>\n

His comments hark back to observations made at the time of the opening, when everyone involved expressed their wish that it would ‘never be needed.’<\/span><\/p>\n

Last month, when asked about lessons learned through the crisis, David Rosser, chief executive of University Hospitals Birmingham, said it was “now clear” that too much capacity was created in the NHS: “We can….see we created too much capacity in hospital and with the Nightingale hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n

“But if you take that a step further and ask me would I have not done that, I would say no – that insurance policy was worth its weight in gold.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’m sure the public found that very reassuring that we had that obvious capacity to fall back on, and I know my teams did – the pressures of potentially having to manage patients in corridors because we had run out of beds, as other countries did, would have been a horrible situation.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n

Also see:<\/span><\/p>\n

Why do so many NHS Nightingale hospitals remain empty?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n