Meeting to be held today to ‘confirm sites’ for North Wales field hospitals

A multi agency meeting is set to be held today that will ‘confirm’ the location of sites that will be used for field hospitals to help deal with the pandemic.

On Saturday Deeside.com reported how Deeside businesses had been called upon to source industrial equipment for the development of a field hospital in North Wales.

Health Secretary Vaughan Gething announced on Friday that Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, is to be used as a field hospital with capacity for up to 2,000 beds costing £8m, with further sites in Wales.

Health Boards in Wales appear to be scoping for suitable sites to create temporary hospital wards.

Work is underway to convert part of Scarlets’ training ground in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire into a makeshift hospital ward along with other sites.

As of yet there has been no such public acknowledgement of work taking place in North Wales.

Speaking to Channel Four News on Sunday, Mr Gething said the Welsh Government was looking to create “at least 5000, and potentially more” new hospital beds across Wales.

He said it’s, “really big numbers right across the country, and that capacity is needed because one of the lessons from Italy has been the ability to get people out of the hospital system as it currently is, and into step down care. That then allows people who do have significant health care needs to go into a more acute setting.”

Yesterday a joint statement from several Conservative MPs asked for “urgent action” to ensure the area is not ‘left behind in ensuring adequate capacity to treat coronavirus patients’.

Vale of Clwyd’s Dr James Davies, who recently announced he would be returning the NHS to assist during the crisis, said: “It is imperative that North Wales is not overlooked in the provision of the Covid-19 treatment facilities we are likely to need.

“North Wales needs its own field hospitals. We are determined to ensure that Betsi Cadwaladr gets the support it needs to deliver this.

“It is essential that the NHS, military and other disciplines work together so that lives are not unnecessarily lost.”

“The NHS is devolved in Wales, so we need to be clear what access Welsh patients will have to local facilities or whether they will need to use provision in Manchester and Birmingham.

Robin Millar MP (Aberconwy) added:“Our discussions with the chairman of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board demonstrate both he and the chief executive grasp the urgency and importance of this matter.

“We are grateful that they are driving this forward and they have called a multi- agency meeting for Monday to confirm sites, timescale, process and clear resource requirements.

“We want to be absolutely sure that North Wales is as prepared as all other regions of the UK.”