First look inside Bangor Uni’s coronavirus field hospital

WORK is nearing completion at Bangor’s new temporary coronavirus hospital.

The site at the University’s Canolfan Brailsford (pictured) will provide 250 beds for patients with Covid-19 symptoms.

It is one of three temporary hospitals being created in the region to cope with the pandemic.

Venue Cymru in Llandudno will offer 350 beds with another 250 at Deeside Leisure Centre in Flintshire.

It is hoped Canolfan Brailsford will accept its first patients in May, having been converted from housing Bangor University’s sports and leisure facilities.

The temporary hospital is designed for patients no longer needing ventilator access or more intense treatment at Ysbyty Gwynedd, but still requiring day to day care.

Work started in early April, and the adaptations have involved the installation of separate systems to provide heat, necessary gases and water via pipes to the temporary wards.

When the hospital is no longer needed, the facility will revert back to being a sports hall.

Health board chairman Mark Polin said such temporary hospitals were central to plans to achieve the additional necessary capacity.

“I really appreciate the support we’ve received from Bangor University to help with this second site, as well as our colleagues at Gwynedd Council and Anglesey County Council,” he said.

The health board has also unveiled a new assessment tent outside Ysbyty Gwynedd’s emergency department.

Installed thanks to support from the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, it will be there as a precaution to cope with any major rise in the number of people arriving at the hospital with symptoms of COVID-19.

A spokesperson for the health board said: “This area would be used to screen patients, and based on the results they could either be admitted to hospital, redirected to alternative services, or directed home to monitor their symptoms in isolation.

“Staff are currently taking part in training exercises to familiarise themselves with the facility.

“Similar preparations are being carried out across all our main hospital sites.”