Impressive time-lapse footage shows how the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham was transformed into a new NHS Nightingale Hospital in a matter of days.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said it will initially have 500 beds to treat coronavirus patients, with the capacity to expand to 2,000.
Set to open on Sunday, April 12, it is the second hospital in Britain created to boost treatment capacity for Covid-19 cases, after staff at London’s NHS Nightingale, based inside the ExCeL Centre, started admitting patients on Tuesday.
Similar facilities – also called Nightingale Hospitals – are being set up in Manchester and Glasgow, according to Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Workers captured towards the start of their building of the NHS Nightingale Hospital in Birmingham. It is the second hospital in Britain created to boost treatment capacity for Covid-19 patients, after staff at NHS Nightingale Hospital in London, based inside the ExCeL centre, started admitting patients on Tuesday. It is staffed by NHS medics kitted out in full PPE
An incredible video shows the arena being turned into a hospital space, with workers building individual examination rooms for patients.
NHS Nightingale Birmingham tweeted the footage, captioning: ‘NHS Nightingale Birmingham, led by @uhbtrust, will open its doors soon.
‘The hospital will provide extra capacity to local services dealing with the increased number of patients during the peak of coronavirus.’
The new hospital is also holding its first induction today, with NHS colleagues from trusts across the region attending.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘Huge credit should go to all those involved in getting the hospital set up so quickly.’
He added that the third Nightingale Hospital in Manchester was expected to open in ‘the next week or so’.
Workers continue their building on the National Exhibition Centre arena space, laying down the carpeting. The footage was tweeted by NHS Nightingale Birmingham, who said the hospital will ‘open its doors soon’ and will provide ‘extra capacity to local services dealing with the increased number of patients during the peak of coronavirus’
The impressive time-lapse footage shows how the hospital was created in a matter of days. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the space will initially have 500 beds to treat coronavirus patients, with the capacity to expand to 2,000
Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow have concentrated on large-scale facilities, but other strategies, such as that of Wales, include developing a network of smaller field hospitals.
It comes as the UK announced 936 more deaths from coronavirus yesterday, taking the total number of fatalities to 7,095.
Prince Charles opened the Nightingale Hospital in London by video link last Friday, a 100-acre site at London’s ExCel sports centre which has been converted for up to 4,000 patients.
The Prince of Wales told how he was ‘enormously touched’ to have been asked to launch the facility via video-link from his Scottish home at Birkhall.
The opening was attended in person by Mr Hancock and Health Minister Nadine Dorries, who have also both had the virus but now recovered.
Charles told those gathered at the Hospital’s entrance: ‘I was enormously touched to have been asked to open the Nightingale Hospital as part of a mass mobilisation to withstand the coronavirus crisis.
‘It is without doubt a spectacular and almost unbelievable feat of work in every sense, from its speed of construction in just nine days to its size and the skills of those who have a created it.’
The video captures builders creating individual examining rooms for patients. Similar facilities – also called Nightingale Hospitals – are being set up in Manchester and Glasgow in the coming weeks, according to Health Secretary Matt Hancock
The scene filmed towards the end of the footage, showing an incredible transformation of the arena space. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘Huge credit should go to all those involved in getting the hospital set up so quickly’
He added: ‘I need hardly say that the name of this hospital could not have been more aptly chosen. Florence Nightingale, the Lady with the Lamp, brought hope and healing to thousands in their darkest hour. In this dark time, this place will be a shining light.
‘It is symbolic of the selfless care and devoted service taking place in innumerable settings, with countless individuals, throughout the United Kingdom.’
Mr Hancock praised all those involved in the setting up of the Hospital during a speech at the opening ceremony, in which he also paid tribute to the NHS and the way its staff are dealing with the virus crisis.
He said the ‘extraordinary project’, the core of which was completed in just nine days, was a ‘testament to the work and the brilliance of the many people involved’.
Mr Hancock added: ‘In these troubled times with this invisible killer stalking the whole world, the fact that in this country we have the NHS is even more valuable than before.’
MailOnline has contacted NHS England for comment.