Covid: Field hospital to become rugby stadium again
- Published
The Principality Stadium, Cardiff, was transformed into a field hospital to treat coronavirus patients
Health officials have left the Dragon's Heart Hospital at Cardiff's Principality Stadium and it will be reinstated as a rugby venue ready to host the Six Nations again next year.
The 2,000-bed field hospital was the second largest in the UK when it opened in April to treat coronavirus patients.
During the peak of the pandemic, 46 people were admitted.
Decommissioning will now be completed before it resumes its role as a national stadium once again.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CVUHB) took the Principality Stadium over for 205 days, but will now move operations to the new Lakeside Wing at the University Hospital of Wales, in the Heath suburb of the city.
This should be completed on 25 November and the temporary facility will be able to accommodate up to 400 beds.
Despite having fewer than 50 patients, the Dragon's Heart was the only one of Wales' 17 field hospitals to treat people.
Health Minister Vaughan Gething defended the decision to spend £166m on the facilities, saying: "If we had needed extra capacity, in much greater numbers, and I had not acted as I did, I think the public would have rightly said, 'Why on earth didn't that man in charge do something about it?'"
Deputy chief executive of CVUHB Martin Driscoll said the Dragon's Heart Hospital allowed it to "reassure our communities we were prepared for whatever the pandemic threw at us".
The WRU training facility at The Vale Resort was also turned into a field hospital to provide 290 extra beds
Welsh Rugby Union chairman Steve Phillips said the field hospital had been an example of "what can be achieved when people in Wales come together".
He added: "We can now begin work on reinstating the stadium, as we look forward to the Six Nations in 2021."
Wales will play their upcoming Autumn Nations Cup fixtures against Georgia and England at Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli in November.
Games against England and Ireland in the 2021 Six Nations are due to take place at the Principality Stadium next February and March.
- Published7 May 2020
- Published14 September 2020
