Covid-19: Belfast Nightingale Hospital is stood down

The Nightingale was designed to care for Covid-19 patients who needed ventilation

The de-escalation of the Nightingale facility in Belfast has been completed.

At the peak of the most recent Covid-19 surge, it was expanded to care for up to 32 patients seriously ill with Covid-19.

The Belfast Health Trust has described the de-escalation of the facility as "significant".

From now on Covid-19 patients will be cared for at the Mater Hospital on the Crumlin Road, as Belfast City Hospital returns to focus on surgery.

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The trust said the City Hospital "will continue to provide care and treatment to patients across a range of specialities including Haematology and Renal services".

The Nightingale reopened in October for patients seriously ill with Covid-19

It will become a "green surgical pathway" - where Covid-19 positive patients are not cared for, so that services can be maintained on a Covid-free site.

The trust said it is being scaled up to undertake complex, high-priority surgery for patients from across Northern Ireland, but it will retain flexibility should there be another surge.

Further details on a surgical recovery plan are expected in the coming days.

The Nightingale, at Belfast City Hospital's tower block, reopened in October due to Covid-19 pressures.

The hospital's tower block was originally turned into a 230-bed unit for critically-ill patients in April 2020, but then stood down the following month.