National Conference Centre Turned into 4,000 Bed Coronavirus Hospital

The Excel Conference Centre in London has been transformed into a 4,000 bed coronavirus hospital to help tackle the surge in numbers of people suffering from COVID-19.

The Excel Conference Centre is one of biggest event venues in the U.K. and houses hundreds of events, conferences and exhibitions each year. With the outbreak of coronavirus putting a stop to all public events for the foreseeable future, such large spaces remain vacant, that was until an innovative proposition was put forward to utilise such venues as temporary field hospitals.

With the help of the military, Excel was transformed into the new NHS Nightingale Hospital. It was built in just 9 days and provides the equivalent support to around 10 district hospitals, helping to relieve the growing pressure on existing hospitals as numbers of cases continue to rise. Despite the speed at which this new hospital was built, the government received criticism for not acting quickly enough when compared to other countries who have already passed through this stage of the epidemic. China was notably praised for building a giant hospital from scratch, but in comparison to the Nightingale, this was merely a warehouse with beds. Images from inside the Nightingale are far more sophisticated and reveal purpose built beds, oxygen supplies, partitioned wards and a number of other high spec additions. It is clear that this is a fully functioning hospital and far more than simply a dedicated space with beds to house affected patients. The hospital will require around 16,000 personnel to operate and is now ready to start taking its first patients.

The NHS Nightingale Hospital was officially opened by Prince Charles on Friday 3rd April, who conducted the ceremony via video link. This is the first time such an opening has been conducted virtually, but given the current pandemic and the fact that Prince Charles has only recently finished in self-isolation after being diagnosed with coronavirus, this was clearly the most sensible option. The hospital was aptly named after Florence Nightingale, who is known as the founder of modern nursing. She was a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organized care for wounded soldiers. Given that many have described this as a ‘war’ situation, it is understandable that this would be the name given to the first field hospital of its kind to be created in peace times.

In addition to the Nightingale, further ‘field’ hospitals are currently underway in Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and Glasgow to help ease the strain on existing hospitals and to ensure that those suffering from COVID-19 are able to be treated in the most effective way. There have been ongoing concerns that hospitals may be overwhelmed and unable to treat the number of patients being admitted with COVID-19, but so far it appears that generally, the NHS has been able to cope with demand. There are obviously some variations to this across the country and with London being the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.K. the cases are exceptionally high, meaning that there is particular strain on services in the area. This is likely to be the reason why the development of the Nightingale has been prioritized, so that immediate assistance can be provided to hospitals in the capital.

There have been some questions raised over staffing capacity, as reports have suggested that around 25% of healthcare professionals are currently off work self-isolating. The government has promised to ramp up testing of NHS workers to ensure that as many who are safe to return to work can do to help keep up staffing levels. In addition, student nurses are being trained to provide front-line support and medics from the British Army are also being drafted in to provide further support.

As the number of both infections and deaths continue to rise in the U.K. experts believe that the peak of the outbreak will occur within the next couple of weeks, providing everyone adheres to the strict social distancing measures which are currently in place. Although many consider the country to be in ‘lockdown’ much of the measures in place are still advisory, although the prime minister Boris Johnson has said that he will not hesitate to enforce stricter rules if people fail to comply with social distancing. Non-essential stores are now closed and all residents are being urged to work from home unless absolutely necessary. Due to the ambiguous nature of this caveat, there is still confusion over what is considered ‘essential work’ particularly in areas such as construction. As a result, there have been many reports of packed London tube trains due to a reduction in the number of trains running and many people still using the service to get to work.

The efforts of the many people who have worked tirelessly over the past few weeks to get the Nightingale hospital ready is commendable, and will undoubtedly help the country in its ongoing fight against the coronavirus.