‘Several deaths’ occurred at city stadium field hospital – health chiefs
HEALTH chiefs have confirmed there were fatalities among patients being treated for Covid-19 at the Principality Stadium.
The Dragon’s Heart Hospital, which was erected inside the Wales rugby team’s iconic home ground, received a total of 46 patients.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board confirmed there had been a “few deaths” at the emergency field hospital but declined to give the actual figure.
When the facility was first set up it was designed to be a “step-up and step-down” hospital for patients coming to the end of their Covid-19 treatment, requiring rehabilitation and support, and those needing end-of-life palliative care.
The temporary 1,500-bed field facility was recently downgraded to standby status.
Cardiff and Vale UHB chief executive Len Richards has now confirmed it will remain available in case another wave of coronavirus sweeps through Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, and it can be recommissioned within a week.
He said: “As lockdown eases, we have to be ready to respond and to step up our services as and when required.
“The Dragon’s Heart Hospital is a very important part of our planning to respond to Covid-19.
“It will remain on standby if the R [reproduction] rate [of coronavirus] stays less than one because, if that happens, we think we will be able to cope with our normal bed capacity within our normal facilities.
“But, if we start to get into an escalating position where the virus is spreading we will make a judgement around at what point in time we will need to reopen the Dragon’s Heart Hospital.”
And he stressed: “We are not out of the woods yet. The pandemic is still there, the disease is still within our community.
“It’s under control at the moment but we must not give it the opportunity to start to infect again.
“It’s not about testing, it’s about washing your hands, it’s about social distancing, it’s about making sure you comply with the rules that are there so we can actually ease lockdown, but at a pace we can manage and therefore keep the virus under control.”