Covid: Prince Charles opens the NHS Nightingale Hospital

Prince Charles has transformed the ExCel convention center into a temporary facility in just nine days: the NHS Nightingale Hospital.

Prince Charles tested positive for Covid and he is still self-isolating at his Scottish residence at Birkhall. He will launch the 4,000-bed temporary facility at the ExCel convention centre in east London today via video-link. London’s new NHS Nightingale Hospital will treat intensive care for Covid patients.

Opening the hospital, the Prince of Wales is expected to say a few words in tribute to all those who have worked to create the new medical facility, and to people across the UK who continue to deliver frontline care to those affected by the Covid crisis.

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NHS Nightingale Hospital

The ceremony will be attended by Health Secretary Matt Hancock. He previously had COVID-19 and now recover from the virus. Then, Professor Charles Knight, chief executive of NHS Nightingale, and representatives from the Ministry of Defence, contractors and volunteers. The event will be hosted by Ruth May, the chief nursing officer for England. Natalie Grey, head of nursing at NHS Nightingale, will then unveil a plaque on behalf of Charles to mark the hospital’s official opening.

The Nightingale Hospital will need an army of up to 16,000 staff in clinical and ancillary roles to keep it running. It splits into more than 80 wards containing 42 beds each. The facility will be used to treat COVID-19 patients who have been transferred from other intensive care units across London.

But then, there is a new problem. Leaked documents seen by the Health Service Journal reveal communication is envisaged to be a problem due to the building’s poor acoustics and because all staff will be working in an unfamiliar setting in a team of people they have never met before. Not only that, but the nurses may also be asked to perform “unfamiliar” tasks, such as dealing with complications arising from intubation, normally only done by intensive care nurses.