Coronavirus: Nightingale hospital to be built in Jersey

The hospital will be built with the help of firms with experience working on the constriction of a similar facility in Manchester (pictured)

A temporary hospital will be built in Jersey to increase acute care capacity for coronavirus patients, the Government of Jersey has announced.

The Jersey Nightingale Hospital will have 180 beds for people with Covid-19, but will not be used for putting people on ventilators, the government said.

The hospital is expected to be operational by the first week of May.

It will cost £14.4m and will be built at Millbrook Playing Field.

The announcement comes on the same day Jersey declared it had the capacity to test patients on-island.

The hospital will be built with the help of the UK military.

Doctors from Jersey General Hospital are working with UK specialists to gather advice on the most effective way to use the facility once it is working, the government said.

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Chief Minister John Le Fondre, said the "significant investment" will provide necessary overflow capacity as the demand for medical care on the island increases.

Senator Le Fondre said: "Health and Community Services are recruiting and upskilling staff in preparation for the increase in demand and this field hospital is the other vital element.

"We cannot allow islanders to die because we wouldn't spend the money that would save their lives."