Duke Of Cambridge Opens New NHS Nightingale Hospital In Birmingham

The Duke of Cambridge has opened the new NHS Nightingale Hospital in Birmingham via a video link. 

The field hospital at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) was built with the help of military personnel in just eight days.

Prince William said the construction of the facility was a "wonderful example" of the "pulling together" going on up and down the UK amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

The duke also praised the "selfless commitment' of NHS workers across the country. 

Health Secretary Matt Hancock and the Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, also joined the opening over a video link.

The hospital is the second of seven planned Nightingale NHS facilities to open, after the first became operational at London's ExCel Centre.

The hospital at the NEC already has nearly 500 beds but that figure could be increased to 4,000 if needed. The facility also has its own mortuary and a pop-up shop.

It has yet to take its first patients since becoming fully operational on 10 April, while clinicians hope its maximum capacity will not be needed.

In a speech to around 50 healthcare, military and civilian personnel, the duke said: "The NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham is a wonderful example of Britain pulling together.

"Having spoken to some of the people who helped build it, hospitals are about the people and not the bricks.

"NHS staff, Armed Forces, local government, and the private sector have collectively stepped up to turn this exhibition centre into a hospital.

"You all deserve our huge thanks, and you should all be hugely proud of what you have achieved in such a short space of time."

Armed Forces personnel carried out a range of duties to help the facility open as quickly as possible.

Major Angela Laycock, a chartered civil engineer from 170 Engineer Group, told Forces News last week: "The thing that the military brought was the speed of planning, so we’re normally thrown into a situation with just some data, gather the facts and come up with the decisions that are required very quickly.

"The NHS staff here, they’ve actually been building hospitals, so they were really well-versed in what was required to build a hospital. Mix those two together and we were able to come up with concept design almost over a weekend."

The facility will be run by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust (UHB), taking patients recovering from coronavirus, freeing up the main hospitals to care for the most critically ill.

Cover image: The duke made a speech to around 50 healthcare, military and civilian personnel - all following social-distancing measures (Picture: PA).