Northern Ireland

Leaked photographs 'expose impact of nursing shortages on Nightingale'

Leaked photographs from the Nightingale hospital in Belfast show some wards are being used for storage space
Leaked photographs from the Nightingale hospital in Belfast show some wards are being used for storage space Leaked photographs from the Nightingale hospital in Belfast show some wards are being used for storage space

LEAKED photographs from inside Northern Ireland's Nightingale hospital have revealed some wards are being used as storage spaces - amid claims others remain unopened due to severe nursing shortages.

Whistleblowers contacted The Irish News with images from Belfast City Hospital's main tower block which they claim exposes the impact of poor workforce planning over the past decade and cuts to student nursing places.

Cardboard boxes, drip stands, trolleys and chairs are crammed into ward spaces where patients should be.

The 11-storey building in south Belfast was transformed into a regional Nightingale facility during the first Covid surge and has the capacity to treat more than 150 patients.

At lunchtime yesterday, there were 17 Covid-positive patients - all from the Belfast trust - on ventilators on 'level 2' of the hospital, with a further 14 recovering patients moved to a different ward.

Drip stands are among the equipment being stored in former wards at Belfast City Hospital, which is now the Nightingale facility
Drip stands are among the equipment being stored in former wards at Belfast City Hospital, which is now the Nightingale facility Drip stands are among the equipment being stored in former wards at Belfast City Hospital, which is now the Nightingale facility

The trust insisted last night that depleted nursing levels were not linked to a 24-bedded Covid ICU ward - ready since August - never opening.

Five levels of the enormous hospital - which are normally used for gynaecology operations as well as cardiology, urology and dermatology procedures - are closed, with services transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital. Some wards are partially open, while day cases including dialysis are continuing.

Analysis: Impact of cuts to nurses places over a decade ago exposed during pandemic

Life-saving kidney transplants were also carried out in a separate part of the tower. These were suspended earlier this month.

One high-level source said: "The public are thinking the whole place is filled with patients. If you look at the tower block from the motorway, you think, that’s our Nightingale, but it's not at all.

The Nightingale Hospital was formally opened by health minister Robin Swann and Chief Nursing Officer Charlotte McArdle in April. It was stood down in May as coronavirus cases decreased but re-opened last month during the second wave
The Nightingale Hospital was formally opened by health minister Robin Swann and Chief Nursing Officer Charlotte McArdle in April. It was stood down in May as coronavirus cases decreased but re-opened last month during the second wave The Nightingale Hospital was formally opened by health minister Robin Swann and Chief Nursing Officer Charlotte McArdle in April. It was stood down in May as coronavirus cases decreased but re-opened last month during the second wave

"Parts of it are being used as tearooms, administration space where staff can socially distance. or storage space where everything is being pushed into.

"Apart from haematology, the vast majority of inpatient beds in the tower block are not being used. Level 3 of the hospital has been ready since August for coronavirus patients, fitted out with 24 beds and ventilators. Not one patient has been admitted as there aren't enough nurses to open the ward.

"We've sat like this from the moment they turned us into Nightingale. We obviously don't want it to be full but the thing is there doesn’t seem to be any forward planning about getting the place back to normality.

"Meanwhile, the Royal Victoria Hospital is really under pressure. They're doing operations in theatres and then they're transferring patients back to level 7 in the City... Staff here feel like they're in limbo and now we're being told to prepare for the third Covid wave in January."

The regional cancer centre and a specialist mental health unit - which are located next to the main tower block - remain open.

The frustration expressed by whistleblower staff comes a week after The Irish News revealed that 15 ICU nurses have resigned from the Belfast trust in the past six months, with concerns raised about less experienced staff redeployed to the Nightingale hospital.

Pat Cullen, director of the Royal College of Nursing, claimed conditions were "unsafe".

Reacting to the photographs last night, Ms Cullen said she "wasn't surprised" as the north's health service was short of more than 2,500 nurses prior to the pandemic.

"We have now depleted our nursing service to the point where we can only run a Covid service," she said.

"What we are seeing now is every part of society suffering as a result of what they’ve done to nursing for the past 12 years.

"Nurses were working within a crisis when the pandemic struck. Now we’re trying to manage within. The service has collapsed and we’re trying to work within that.

"Elective surgery hasn’t been cancelled in the Republic or elsewhere in the NHS, it's business as usual. We’re the only place where elective surgery is severely affected."

In a statement, the Belfast Trust confirmed it had a total of 17 Covid-positive patients in ICU out of a total of 92 patients in the 'Nightingale Tower'.

It denied, however, that nursing shortages had prevented the opening of the level 3 Covid ward since August.

"To date the number of patients admitted to ICU at any one time has not required the trust to open the level 3 ward floor. However, this facility remains available should the demand for ICU beds increase further."

Responding to concerns about wards being used for storage space and tea facilities, it added: "In order to provide appropriate rest facilities for the large number of staff working in the Nightingale and to ensure social distancing measures are in place a ward is being used as non-clinical space".