@JaniceBattersby
The nightingales were never ‘hospitals’, they were set up as an alternative when it was thought patients might actually be left dying in hospital corridors. Many hospitals do actually have issues with the number of physical beds they can fit in antiquated buildings, as well as the number of ‘beds’ because of staffing levels.
They were essentially holding pens for people needing CPAP or oxygen so that they didn’t die on the floor. They were a last resort intervention that would be staffed by the army, under the supervision of trained medics, who would essentially just ‘do their best’ in a war-like situation.
Thank God they were never really needed. If you think they should be reopened OP then I’m sure you’d be glad to be ‘treated’ there?
This. Exactly this.
Except they weren't planned as being staffed solely by the army.
The staffing plan (I read it) was 'hygeine teams' of one trained individual at the head end of the patient, and half a dozen untrained or nominally trained people under their command.
Those might include dentists, dental nurses, vets, veterinary nurses, physios, air hostesses, students from across the clinical professions... basically anyone who had half an idea of basic medical hygeine and a DBS was vulnerable for redeployment.
Most of those people are now back in their regular roles and so are no longer available. And, unlike spring 2020, most would resist being redeployed.
Every day roles were mapped onto potential Nightingale roles, and spreadsheets were drawn up with the skills we had, ready for redeployment. I can cannulate and manage an airway, so had a decent chance of being one of those 'more competent' head end people which, given it's 20 years since I've worked on a ward, was a sobering prospect.
I was literally waiting the call. As were my team. It was terrifying.
Some of the comments here say there was no plan. That it was ill thought out. It was actually incredibly well thought out, with a very detailed plan, redeploying people who had just enough skills to be useful in teams under the supervision with a bit more knowledge and/or skills.
As has been said, they were places that people could live or die whilst receiving oxygen and basic care nursing care. They were set up so covid patients didn't literally starve or expire in their own excrement. They were a production line to give very ill people just enough medical support that they had a chance to recover into well people (the wards were arranged in order of severity so people would pass through them as they recovered) or at the least die in a bed rather than in a hospital car park. They also allowed for the decent disposal of bodies to prevent some of the scenes we saw in India.
I'm very grateful they were set up (if we'd needed them and they hadn't been then the chaos and civil disorder would have been beyond awful). I'm even more grateful they weren't needed.