Altnagelvin Hospital on course to be Nightingale Hospital over Coronavirus outbreak
Belfast City Hospital’s tower block is being transformed into the first Nightingale hospital.
The facilities are being established around the UK to deal with the expected surge in coronavirus patients.
The tower block will become a 230-bed unit staffed by a team drawn from across the North of Ireland.
The surge plans set out by the Department of Health also include further critical-care capacity at Altnagelvin and the Ulster Hospital.
On Wednesday, it was confirmed 30 people who were diagnosed with the virus in the North of Ireland have died so far.
There are 29 people in the Derry and Strabane Council area who have tested positive for Coronavirus.
Health officials expect to hit the peak number of cases between April 6 and 20.
Alteration work is already under way at the City’s tower block and some non-coronavirus patients will have to be moved.
Health Minister Robin Swann said he recognised the challenges these emergency arrangements would present for staff, with new ways of working and in many cases a new workplace location.
“I am determined we will do everything possible to support them and their colleagues across health and social care as they take on the many challenges that Covid-19 bring,” he said.
“We owe them all a debt that can never be repaid.”
At present the Mater Hospital in north Belfast is taking the city’s coronavirus patients.
On Wednesday, First Minister Arlene Foster revealed that a Nightingale hospital could be based at the Eikon Exhibition Centre in Balmoral Park.
This would have followed the model in England, with London’s temporary hospital being set up from scratch in the city’s ExCeL Centre.
The Department of Health said it was continuing to assess the potential of the Eikon Centre as a second Nightingale facility to further increase bed capacity later this year in preparation for a possible second wave.
However, for nurses who will be working at the Nightingale hospital, there are still major concerns over whether sufficient protective personal equipment (PPE) will be available, according to the head of the Royal College of Nursing in Northern Ireland.
Pat Cullen, who met with First Minister Arlene Foster, Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill, and Health Minister Robin Swann on Wednesday, said it was difficult to “express the fear and the anxiety” felt by nurses.
The tower block will become a 230-bed unit staffed by a team drawn from across the North of Ireland
She said the meeting with ministers had been positive but that she did not receive assurances that sufficient PPE would be “readily available”.
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