Solihull Hospital prepares to receive Covid-19 patients

Elective surgery will still be carried out at the Solihull site, the hospital trust said

A hospital that became a coronavirus-free centre is to start taking patients as pressure mounts on wards across Birmingham.

Solihull Hospital stopped taking Covid-19 cases in May so elective surgery could continue during the pandemic.

But with 570 patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, run by the same trust, people testing positive will now also be treated in Solihull.

The move will help "maximise beds", the trust said.

Elective surgery will also be maintained at the hospital, it added.

Dr David Rosser, chief executive of the University Hospitals Birmingham Trust, described the QE as "extremely full" with "numbers escalating quite quickly over the last few days".

"We've been borrowing staff off our partner hospitals to try and get as many beds open as we can," he said.

"Despite that, we're starting off most days with no empty beds."

A lack of available beds has led to patients being held in ambulances, said the hospital trust

The lack of beds has led to patients being held in ambulances outside the hospital, he explained.

"Things are really, really difficult and the queues of ambulances that are outside the hospital are the marker of just how difficult things are at the moment," he added.

"It's the toughest I've seen in 25 years."