U.K. Plans Temporary 4,000-Bed Hospital to Fight Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) --

The U.K. government said it will open a temporary hospital with space for 4,000 patients in east London next week as health chiefs across England warned that the coronavirus outbreak could overwhelm intensive care capacity by then.

U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the ExCel conference center in London’s Docklands district will be converted into the NHS Nightingale hospital as part of the government’s response to the disease. Almost 12,000 former health workers have offered to return to help fight the virus, and 250,000 volunteers are needed to deliver food and medicine to the most vulnerable, he said.

Staff at the publicly funded health system have raised the alarm in recent days over a lack of equipment, with many expressing fears over the deadly infection. In an open letter published in the Sunday Times last weekend, medical workers urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to step up efforts to bolster the NHS’s defenses.

“We will make sure we have the capacity they need so everyone can get the support they need,” Hancock told reporters Tuesday at a press conference in Downing Street on Tuesday.

Responding to a survey by the U.K.’s Health Service Journal, 34 chiefs of National Health Service trusts also flagged concerns around a lack of staff, testing and personal protective equipment. One executive said the issue had caused a “near revolt” by employees, while at least a third reported that they would run out of intensive care capacity by next week.

Lack of patient support equipment is also a major obstacle to care, and is leading to difficult choices, according to the survey.

“We are preserving ventilation capacity by ensuring that only those who may survive are considered,” one CEO said, according to the HSJ report.

The government’s move follows the building of temporary hospitals in China’s Hubei province, where the outbreak originated. A quarantine that was imposed in January will be lifted in April as the epidemic in that region has abated.

The U.K. has confirmed more than 8,000 cases and about 420 deaths. The concerns over protective gear come despite assurances to U.K. lawmakers by NHS executives last week that the issue is related to distribution rather than supply, which they were remedying.

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