Soldiers are adding the finishing touches to the new NHS Nightingale Hospital in London’s ExCel Centre which is being stocked with 4,000 beds.
The hospital is due to open this week, just as work has begun to transform the Welsh rugby stadium into a 500-bed hospital for coronavirus patients.
The rugby union stadium in Wales is the latest venue to be turned into a temporary hospital for coronavirus patients, with Parc y Scarlets expected to be operational in two weeks and provide up to 500 extra beds.
Soldiers are adding the finishing touches to the new NHS Nightingale Hospital in London’s ExCel Centre which is being stocked with 4,000 beds (pictured)
The hospital is due to open this week, just as work has begun to transform the Welsh rugby stadium into a 500-bed hospital for coronavirus patients
Pictured is a hospital bed and respirator at the ExCel centre, London, which is being made into the temporary NHS Nightingale hospital, comprising of two wards, each of 2,000 people, to help tackle coronavirus
Work began last Monday to convert three areas of the stadium complex in Llanelli for medical use as the Scarlets work in partnership with the Hywel Dda University Health Board and Carmarthenshire County Council.
The Juno Moneta Arena training facility will house 252 beds, while there will also be a hospital area in the Quinnell Lounge in the South Stand and the first-floor concourse.
The beds in Llanelli are in addition to around 2,000 which are set to be installed at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff as Wales prepares itself for the peak of the pandemic.
The Welsh locations will join others being be built inside UK venues including the SEC in Glasgow, Manchester Central Convention Complex, Birmingham’s NEC and the new NHS Nightingale hospital at ExCel in London.
Contractors work on temporary hospital wards inside the training ground at Parc y Scarlets stadium in Llanelli today
A contractor fits electrical sockets and power cables on the temporary ward inside the Parc y Scarlets training ground today
The rugby union stadium in Wales is the latest venue to be turned into a temporary hospital for coronavirus patients
The hospital at Parc y Scarlets in Wales is expected to be operational in two weeks and provide up to 500 extra beds
‘Things have progressed very quickly,’ said Scarlets general manager of rugby Jon Daniels. ‘We are aiming to be close to operational within a couple of weeks.
‘It is a big task and a big challenge, but everyone is pulling in the same direction. It is a contingency plan – as with everything with coronavirus, nobody knows how long it is going to last and how bad it could get.
‘A lot depends on how vigilant we are in following the guidelines issued by the government and the NHS in terms of isolating ourselves and social distancing.
‘The better we are at following those guidelines, hopefully the less need there will be for facilities such as this.’
Daniels highlighted the Scarlets’ role in the community and paid tribute to the work of those fighting the outbreak.
‘There is a part of our community which needs to be recognised here and that is all those workers, those warriors within the NHS and other critical services in getting our society through this,’ he added.
Work began last Monday to convert three areas of the stadium complex in Llanelli in Wales for medical use
The Scarlets are working in partnership with the Hywel Dda University Health Board and Carmarthenshire County Council
A contractor fits electric cabling around a sink and cleaning station at the temporary hospital ward in Llanelli today
The Juno Moneta Arena training facility will house 252 beds once the construction has been completed in two weeks’ time
There will be a hospital area in the Quinnell Lounge in the South Stand and the first-floor concourse of the Llanelli stadium
Contractors lay heavy duty medical grade vinyl on temporary hospital wards inside the Parc y Scarlets training ground today
‘What we are doing is miniscule compared to the sacrifices that those people are making to get to work, to work long hours and get our community through this.
‘It is hard work what we are doing here, but it is an absolute privilege to serve our community in any way we can.’
Carmarthenshire County Council has also commissioned contractors to turn Carmarthen Leisure Centre and indoor bowls hall the Selwyn Samuel Centre into temporary bed spaces for the NHS.
Meanwhile the NHS said today that cabin crew will join doctors and nurses in staffing the new Nightingale hospital built to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
Staff at Virgin Atlantic and EasyJet have been invited to volunteer at the new 4,000-bed clinic being built at the ExCel, and those planned in Birmingham and Manchester. Their salaries will continue to be paid by the airlines.
Many first-aid trained cabin crew across the world have been grounded as countries have closed borders and cancelled flights amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The beds in Llanelli (above) are in addition to around 2,000 which are set to be installed at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff
A contractor works on a sink unit and cleaning station fitted to a wall then covered in medical grade vinyl in Llanelli today
The temporary hospital in Llanelli (pictured today) will join others being be built inside UK venues including London’s ExCel
Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli is expected to be operational as a temporary hospital in around two weeks
A contractor lays heavy duty medical grade vinyl onto the wooden floor and walls of the temporary ward in Llanelli today
EasyJet has already written to its 9,000 UK-based staff including 4,000 cabin crew trained in CPR to invite them to give their time to the NHS. Virgin Atlantic will begin writing to 4,000 of its employees about the plans today.
Separately, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that the country’s largest exhibition centre – the the SEC in Glasgow – will be turned into a hospital during the coronavirus pandemic.
Ms Sturgeon said the site could be ready for use within two weeks and it would offer 300 additional beds for coronavirus patients
But she claimed the building, opened in 1985, may not have to be used because 3,000 beds have been set aside by Scottish health boards to accommodate coronavirus patients.
Ms Sturgeon said: ‘I can confirm following exploratory work over last week and the weekend we have now taken the decision to start work on turning the Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow into a temporary NHS hospital.
Army personnel make preparations at Manchester Central Conference Centre for its conversion into a hospital today
The work at Manchester Central Convention Complex will add 500 more beds to the NHS effort to fight coronavirus
Efforts are under way to source the doctors, nurses and non-clinical workers to staff the huge units, including in Manchester
The Manchester Central Convention Complex is pictured today as preparations are made to turn it into a hospital
Preparations are made at Manchester Central Conference Centre today for the building’s conversion into a hospital
‘If needed, we expect that the hospital could become operational within a fortnight from now. Initially it would provide us with 300 additional beds, but ultimately it could have capacity for more than 1,000 patients.
‘It is important to be clear that we might not need to use the exhibition centre.
‘There are currently approximately 13,000 beds in NHS hospitals across Scotland and using those NHS boards are working to ensure 3,000 beds are available for Covid-19 patients within our existing hospital network.’
It comes after the owners of a vacant IBM site near Greenock offered up the facility to be used as an NHS field hospital.
A paramedic stands today in a tent outside the ExCel in London, which is being turned into a 4,000 bed temporary hospital
Staff with personal protective equipment at the ExCel in London today which is becoming the NHS Nightingale hospital
London ambulance workers leave the NHS Nightingale hospital at the ExCel in London today
A line of London ambulances outside the ExCel today, which is being turned into a 4,000 bed temporary hospital
Soldiers in the area around the Nightingale Hospital at the ExCel in East London today
Workmen put up security fencing outside the entrance to the ExCel today, which is being turned into a 4,000 bed hospital
The ExCeL has been equipped with 4,000 beds to cope with any patient surge in the capital. The London hospital was named NHS Nightingale after the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale.
Soldiers and trade contractors are converting the exhibition centre, which usually hosts spectacles and conferences, into the first of the NHS Nightingale hospitals.
The effort should see the temporary facility in the capital’s Docklands open its doors this week to its first patients, with capacity ultimately reaching 4,000 beds.
Initially 500 beds equipped with ventilators and oxygen will be used to treat the seriously ill, and their numbers are expected to swell in the capital ahead of the rest of the nation.
The task of boosting critical care capacity has been under way since the health service declared an emergency at the end of January.
The Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan today, where a new ward is being constructed to help combat coronavirus
Barriers up at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan, Greater Manchester, where a new ward is being constructed
Before the scale of the crisis became clear, the UK was believed to have had one of the lowest proportions of intensive care units in Europe, but NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens says 33,000 beds are now available for Covid-19 patients.
The National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham will add an initial 500 beds, with the potential to grow to 2,000 if necessary.
Manchester Central Convention Complex will add 500 more, with the capacity to expand to 1,000, and Cardiff’s Principality Stadium will provide up to 2,000 more.
Meanwhile the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust is constructing a new unit at its Royal Albert Edward Infirmary site in Wigan, Greater Manchester, to help in the fight against coronavirus.