Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Nightingale hospital to be stood down
» Hope as Ulster Nightingale facility to be stood down » Minister says virus plan is ‘low surge’ » ...but he warns care homes are the new frontline
NORTHERN Ireland’s only Nightingale Hospital is to be “temporarily stood down”, the Health Minister said yesterday.
Robin Swann claimed closing the City Tower block facility was part of the coronavirus critical care plan being reduced to “low surge”.
But he told the Stormont daily briefing care homes “remain the frontline and an absolute priority”.
Mr Swann said: “[The Nightingale] was one of the key strategic tools for tackling Covid-19.
“We are not doing away with it, it will be there if we have need for it. It is a testimony to the work they did we are able to bring it down.”
Chief medical officer Dr Michael Mcbride said reducing the health service’s escalation level will ensure it is able to respond and redeploy to non-coronavirus cases.
He added: “We have to undertake that gradually and cautiously.”
Ministers also agreed a range of measures aimed at tackling clusters of infection in care homes, including drafting in extra nurses – as two more Covid-19 deaths recorded brought total fatalities, mainly in hospitals, to 449.
Minister Swann told the briefing a mobile coronavirus testing squad has been set up involving the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and 40 nurses.
He said 3,346 residents in care homes – around a quarter – have been tested so far as well as 3,632 staff. Seventy-five of more than 400 facilities in Northern Ireland have positive outbreaks while 26 have “closed down” their outbreaks, the briefing was told.
The Minister was pressed today on calls for more widespread testing at care homes.
But he said as testing capacity increases they will “move to increase testing where there are no coronavirus” cases.
He said he had the same “aim” as Deputy First Minister Michelle O’neill who has called for “universal testing” at care homes .
He added: “While there are no outbreaks in some homes we think it is better to maintain those homes as they are, rather than to introduce any further outside influences. But as soon as we have somebody who becomes symptomatic or asymptomatic or a staff member needing testing that testing support will be there.
“I have had this conversation with the Deputy First Minister, I don’t think we are at odds in our intention, I think there is a difference maybe in language.
“Where she talks about universal testing, we talk about a universal testing programme.
“So our aim is the same and that’s to drive down the number of Covid patients who are currently in care homes using testing as one of the key aims but also supporting the staff to make sure those residents are getting the appropriate care and attention they need.”
Dr Mcbride said they were “rapidly scaling up testing” and a “significant proportion” of care homes have not seen any outbreaks of the virus. He added test results had to be “turned around quickly” to help inform decisions.
Meanwhile, Mr Swann defended the lack of a timetable for the Executive’s lockdown exit plan – insisting it was “requested” by the Health Department.