Birmingham’s Nightingale hospital could be ready for use within 72 hours - but health bosses hope they don't need it

Speaking yesterday, Ian Sharp, the clinical lead for elective care at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB), said the Nightingale would be opened if acute care is "swamped" at hospitals in the region, with a turnaround time of just 72 hours if needed.

However he also expressed grave concerns at the prospect of opening what he referred to as a "field hospital", with staff needing to be reassigned from existing hospitals.

After it was announced that the government would still be allowing the loosening of restrictions over Christmas despite advice from many health bodies, Solihull councillor Rosemary Sexton (Green, Shirley West) asked what the protocol was for the opening of the Nightingale.

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The Nightingale was officially opened by Prince William back in April, but the makeshift hospital inside the NEC didn’t receive any patients during the first wave, and has remained unused.

However Mr Sharp revealed that there are plans in place for the use of the premises, but that the practicalities around staffing were causing concerns among health professionals.

“If we get to the point where any of the hospitals in the Midlands start to look like Lombardy was looking in the early days of Covid, i.e. unable to deal with patients, then the Nightingale would be used,” he said.

“So the point at which acute care is swamped in any of the hospitals in the Midlands – theoretically that could cause the triggering of the processes to open the Nightingale.

“Now, opening the Nightingale is a question that we all get asked very often, but opening the Nightingale requires staff. So the difficulty will be that the moment that that is triggered, all of the acute trusts in the Midlands have signed up to a percentage of their staff going to open the Nightingale.

“Now you can imagine, given that ordinary trusts are currently full, as is the case across much of the Midlands, taking staff out of those organisations to open what is effectively a field hospital fills many of us with dread.

“So if we did that, it is very much being seen as a last resort. If we have to do it then clearly we would do it in a controlled and planned way, but there are some significant risks from doing that.”