Triumph or tragedy? The £66 million hospital that was never used
It took more than 400 workers just two weeks to build from scratch, cost around £66 million and took up 70,000 sq metres.
Now Birmingham's Nightingale hospital is set to close, and while the figures surrounding the monumental effort it took to get it up and running are staggering, arguably the most shocking one of all is the number of patients that were seen at the site.
Over the course of the past 12 months not a single person has been treated at the NEC's temporary hospital, which was commissioned by the NHS at the height of the first wave of the pandemic to deal with an expected surge in Covid patients.
The white framed bed bays – crafted out of 14 miles of metal pipe – have remained empty; the vinyl flooring – enough to cover nearly 12 football pitches – has been walked on only by the construction workers who laid it down.
None of the 4,000 beds that were there on completion have ever been slept in by a patient.
More Covid news:
The Birmingham site, which was opened to great fanfare by Prince William last April, will shut down for good next month, along with six other Nightingales that were built across the country at a total cost of more than £500m.
For some, the fact that the majority of them were never used is a triumph, a testament to the ability of the NHS to cope even when put under incredible strain.
Undoubtedly, the situation was an unusual one, with health chiefs and political leaders advocating spending a fortune on facilities they hoped would never be called into action.
Now, with infection rates and hospital admissions plummeting, they have got their wish.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Nightingales had played a "critical role" in the Covid fight and were "monuments to this nation's ability to get things done fast when it really matters".
"Built in just a matter of days, they gave us the confidence that the NHS would fulfil its timeless promise to always be there for you, to care for you and your family," he said.
"The Nightingale hospitals played a critical role, and now thanks to the combined effort of the vaccination programme, and everybody's commitment to stick by the rules, there are fewer than 10,000 people in hospitals across the UK."
"We're now in a position to stand down our Nightingale hospitals," he added.
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said the it had been "absolutely vital" to have the Birmingham site as an option during the height of the pandemic.
He said: “Turning the NEC into a Nightingale Hospital in under two weeks at the start of a pandemic was an absolutely Herculean effort, and everyone involved deserves the most enormous credit for working round the clock to make it happen so quickly.
“The Nightingale opened at the exact the time the original data showed us it would be needed, as our existing hospitals across the West Midlands would hit full capacity. Thankfully as we progressed through the pandemic and the various waves, hospital chiefs have managed to adapt their existing sites and never got to the point where they decided the temporary site needed to become operational.
“I am actually incredibly pleased that’s the case, as it underlines just how well the region’s hospitals have managed the crisis despite the high number of deaths and infections. Even with hindsight I do believe that the Nightingale was still absolutely vital to have as an option, especially at the height of the pandemic.
“The fact the hospital at the NEC is now being stood down shows how far we have come in the fight against the virus, but as we progress through the roadmap it remains absolutely critical that we keep up the momentum on the number of vaccinations and driving the rate of infection down.”
In the weeks after the Birmingham Nightingale opened infection rates began to fall across the West Midlands, and the facility was mothballed in May.
'Heroes'
It was scaled down last summer and moved to a smaller area of the NEC, but fears grew towards the end of the year that it would be called into use as coronavirus cases surged.
Chris Hopson of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, said the Nightingales had been an "insurance policy" in case a similar situation occurred as in northern Italy, where hospitals had been overwhelmed earlier in the year.
He said to end up not using them was a "success".
From their inception, concerns had been raised over staffing the Nightingales.
At the end of January this year many hospitals saw Covid admissions pass their peak from last April, resulting in staff and resources being stretched to their limits.
While bed space was rarely an issue, staffing was, with the majority of major hospitals redeploying hundreds of people to work on Covid wards.
Staff absence rates were also far higher than usual, due largely to workers having to self-isolate due to test and trace guidelines.
Senior doctors were among those to question how the Nightingales could possibly be opened when there were barely enough trained staff to work at main hospitals.
While for some the closure of the Nightingales represents a job well done, others believe that questions must be asked over the huge amount of money spent on hospitals that have never been brought into service.
Birmingham MP Liam Byrne said: "How on earth has the Government delivered expensive hospitals that sit empty and exhausted nurses that face a pay cut? The NHS is more than buildings, it is the heroes within them."
