DAWN OF A NEW HOSPITAL
STADIUM’S INCREDIBLE CHANGE TO FIELD HOSPITAL IS UNVEILED DITCHING COVID-19 TEST TARGETS IN WALES BRANDED ‘SCANDAL’ CORONAVIRUS LATEST FROM WALES AND THE WORLD
FROM Wales’ premier rugby field to one of the UK’s premier field hospitals, the incredible transformation of the Principality Stadium in the face of the coronavirus pandemic was unveiled yesterday.
Ysbyty Calon Y Ddraig, the Dragon’s Heart Hospital, now sits in one of the nation’s most iconic buildings after its official opening.
In yet another visible reminder of the scale of the social change wrought by Covid-19, in a matter of a few short weeks it’s become the UK’s second largest field hospital, with the potential to hold 2,000 beds.
Medics hope that capacity will never be needed.
Prince Charles hailed the hospital as a “huge source of pride”.
Speaking from his Birkhall home in Scotland, in keeping with social distancing and travel rules, Prince Charles said in a pre-recorded video played at the ceremony: “That this amazing undertaking should have been completed in such a short time is, rightly, a huge source of pride.
“I simply want to add my voice to the tributes that have been paid to all those involved, from so many different walks of life, who have made this possible - the Welsh Government, the National Health Service trust, the planners, builders and technicians, the armed forces and, of course, the medical staff and volunteers who will be taking forward this hospital’s vital work.
“In a facility named, so evocatively and so appropriately, Calon Y Ddraig, what can I say except ‘diolch o galon’, and express the warmest possible thanks for what you have done, and all that you will do in this hospital, and all those other field hospitals, across Wales, where buildings have been transformed as part of the immense effort to combat the dreadful threat we face.”
The prince paid tribute to “individuals and communities” for their courage as well as health and public service workers who had lost their lives on the front line, saying their commitment had “come at a price”.
He said: “It has now been weeks since our lives were changed in so many far-reaching ways by this pernicious virus. We have seen streets become empty and workplaces fall silent.
“But we have also seen individuals and communities meeting these strange new circumstances with the age-old values of generosity and courage that the people of Wales have always understood so well.
“We hope and trust that the measures which have been taken, and the hardship that so many are enduring, will help hasten the day when the shadow of this disease will finally be lifted.
“Such commitment, of course, has come at a price. And as the days have gone by, we have become ever more painfully aware of those in our National Health and public services who have made the ultimate sacrifice in caring for others, giving their lives in the service of their fellow men and women, without thought of reward, and without regard for self.
“Words simply cannot express the gratitude and humility that such compassionate courage inspires in us all, and our hearts go out to all who have lost their loved ones in such a tragic way.”
Charles ended his speech with the words “Eu haberth nid â heibio”, Welsh for “their sacrifice shall not be forgotten”, and called on the public to support those on the NHS front line.
A stadium justly ranked as one of the finest rugby venues in the world is now almost unrecognisable inside.
Corridors once full of fans and stewards have been replaced with nurses’ stations and monitoring equipment.
Function rooms normally packed full of hospitality guests are now wards.
Coveted private boxes overlooking the pitch are full of hospital beds.
The temporary hospital has its first 330 beds ready to receive patients.
As first revealed in yesterday’s Echo, the hospital will care for patients who are coming to the end of their treatment for Covid-19 and require rehabilitation and support, or end-of-life palliative care.
Facilities include mobile x-ray machines and CT scanners.
The stadium will double Cardiff and Vale University Health Board’s capacity, with patients being treated in large tent-like structures and the hospitality boxes.
Around 750 beds are on the pitch, with 250 on platforms around it, and there is on-site radiography, laboratories and a pharmacy.
Len Richards, chief executive of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, said the stadium “embodies the heart and soul of the nation”.
“We are planning on the basis of what we think we might need to ensure we are as ready as we can be,” he said.
“I sincerely hope we don’t need to use all of the capacity but it is far better to have developed plans based upon the scientific evidence and modelling of the experts.
“This facility will allow us to free up capacity at our other hospital sites so that we can continue to provide services to patients with other
health conditions.”
Mr Richards paid tribute to the “commitment and dedication” shown by everyone involved in the project, which has been funded by the Welsh Government.
The official opening was hosted by
Welsh rugby star Dr Jamie Roberts, who has been temporarily working in the NHS as a clinical innovation fellow.
Key speakers included Professor Charles Janczewski, chair of Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, and Dr Jonathon Gray, director of Ysbyty Calon Y Ddraig.
Ruth Walker, executive director of nursing at the health board and Victoria Le Grys, programme director for Ysbyty Calon y Ddraig, unveiled a plaque to commemorate the opening.
Musical accompaniment was provided by Alis Huws, official harpist to Prince Charles, Prince of Wales.
The adjacent Cardiff Blues stadium will offer a rest area for staff and a reception area for relatives.
Mark Williams, manager of the Principality Stadium, said: “To witness the transformation of the stadium into a field hospital in just a matter of weeks is staggering.
“It reaffirms what is possible when people come together.
“I’m immensely proud of my team for taking on this unprecedented challenge with such professionalism.
“We frequently transform the stadium from sports arena to music venue and back again and have seen some of the world’s biggest bands perform here, from the likes of Coldplay to the Rolling Stones, but nothing has ever been done on this scale and at this speed.”
Over the past few weeks, more than 650 people have been employed to either work at Ysbyty Calon Y Ddraig or backfill posts at the University Hospital of Wales.
TESTING and contact tracing in the community is the “most promising approach” in the short term to helping lift the Covid-19 lockdown, a major report has said.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study said isolating people with coronavirus and tracing their contacts so they also isolate – an approach abandoned by the UK Government early on – is the key to controlling further outbreaks of coronavirus.
It comes as former health secretary Jeremy Hunt took to social media yesterday to say contact tracing “needs to be our next national mission”.
Mr Hunt, who is chairman of the Health Select Committee, said a national figure outside of politics was needed to spearhead contact tracing, adding: “I hope we will get a move on so the Cabinet has a choice to the current national lockdown when they come to review this decision in three weeks’ time.”
The OECD report said Covid-19 infections would “rebound rapidly” if countries just moved to lift their lockdowns completely, and urged them to ramp up contact tracing.
It said: “Once the number of infected people has successfully been brought sufficiently down, quick suppression of new waves of viral infections will be key. Testing strategies are central to achieve this.”
The study argued that “strong and effective testing, tracking and tracing (TTT) is needed” and “is the most promising approach in the short run to bringing – and keeping – the epidemic under control without resorting to widespread lockdowns of social and economic life”.
It added: “The TTT approach may be used to block the initial or recurrent spreads of a pathogen, aiming for a rapid extinction of local, well-defined outbreaks that collectively can control an epidemic.”
The Government has come under scrutiny over its testing and contact tracing policy after Public Health England (PHE) advised ministers in early March that contact tracing should be stopped.
PHE told the PA news agency in mid-March that “because the virus is more widespread and we will not necessarily be able to determine where someone has contracted the virus”, contact tracing was being stopped in favour of a more “targeted approach”.
It said anyone who had been in contact with someone who had the virus “no longer needed to take action” unless they developed symptoms.
The UK approach has contrasted with other countries such as Singapore and South Korea, which have successfully kept up contact tracing to contain their outbreaks.
Germany, which has a far lower case and death rate than the UK, has also worked on contact tracing.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs on Friday that contact tracing was part of the strategy going forward and would be introduced again, admitting that “it wasn’t possible when we had a small number of tests”.
The Government is hoping that a contact tracing app being developed by NHSX will enable larger-scale contact tracing and will “assist individuals to do contact tracing themselves”, Mr Hancock said.
However, Mr Hunt questioned this reliance yesterday, saying not everybody could download an app.
On Sunday, England’s deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries also defended the UK’s approach and questioned the link between high levels of contact tracing and low death rates seen in other countries.
She told the No.10 press conference: “We had a containment phase and it was very successful. We had strict quarantine regimes from high-risk areas, we followed up individual cases and families.
“But once you end up with seeding and cases across the community, our focus has to be on managing the clinical conditions of those individuals.”
However, she admitted that in an “ideal world perhaps, if you have endless resources” then continued contact tracing was an approach to consider.
Professor Anthony Costello, a former World Health Organisation director, immediately attacked her comments, saying: “I cannot believe what I am hearing. Deputy CMO Jenny Harries still believes testing policy has been correct. And she doesn’t understand links between tests and Covid death rates. Is this CMO policy? If so, they should resign.”
The OECD report said contact tracing was successfully used in recent disease outbreaks such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in 2003, Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) in 2012, and Ebola in 2014.
But it said for TTT to be effective against Covid-19, those contacts who were with a person in the days leading up to them being diagnosed would need to be found due to the fact the virus can be passed on before symptoms develop.
Meanwhile, a rapid test for detecting Covid-19 has been developed by scientists in Wales.
A team at the University of South Wales has also created a portable device which can produce an accurate result in between 20 and 30 minutes without having to send a sample to the laboratory.
The test and device are being evaluated by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board and could be in use at its care homes within weeks. The test uses different chemicals to the current accredited test, allowing the university to avoid bottlenecks in the global supply chain.