Health Minister Vaughan Gething has announced £33m funding for a new facility for the Cardiff and Vale Health Board to manage any potential increase in COVID-19 cases this winter.
The new facility, providing 400 extra beds, will be built next to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff following the decommissioning of the Dragon’s Heart hospital at the Principality Stadium.
Mr Gething said:
“This investment will help Cardiff and Vale University Health Board manage any potential increase in admissions caused by COVID-19 in what is likely to be a challenging winter for health and social care services.
We know the winter can present greater difficulty for NHS staff, and with the virus more likely to spread in colder conditions we need to ensure we have the bed capacity to cope with increased demand.
Tomorrow I will be announcing further actions to be taken across health and social care through the publication of a Winter Protection Plan, and later this month I will be outlining extra funding for other Health Boards to ensure we retain enough bed capacity throughout the rest of Wales.
Len Richards, Chief Executive at Cardiff and Vale UHB said,
“We are pleased that Welsh Government has announced this funding for a modular build surge inpatient facility on site at University Hospital of Wales. This is welcome news and will support our planning for increased capacity of up to 400 additional patients in response to the current modelling predictions and a second wave of COVID-19.
“The build will be aligned to the de-commissioning programme of the Dragon’s Heart Hospital at the Principality Stadium which we will have vacated by the end of October and will enable the WRU to start making their own plans at the stadium. As a health service we will take on board all of the learning from Dragon’s Heart Hospital in terms of design and clinical requirements for a temporary surge hospital and work to the national modelling requirements.”