Statement by Cllr. Lyndon Jones MBE & Cllr. Myles Langstone, Leader and Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group on the City & County of Swansea Council, about the new Field Hospital on Fabian Way, Swansea.
“Cllr. Lyndon Jones recently had the opportunity of re-visiting the Bay Field Hospital, which is being built to meet the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic, to see the progress that had been since his previous visit, because Swansea Council are responsible for the project.
Construction has come a long way and work is progressing at pace. It will soon offer more than 1,000 extra beds to the NHS in our area. Phase one, up to 400 beds, is complete and has already been handed to the NHS for fitting out.
Our congratulations go to the team who have been involved in the work. This is a key part in our preparedness in dealing with pressure to existing health services and the team have worked incredibly hard to turn this around in such a short space of time. Well done!
The Welsh Government has received £2.2bn from the UK Government to fund projects like this, as part of their package of Coronavirus support.
However, unlike other field hospitals, which will have to be dismantled at the end of the pandemic, this is a brand-new hospital building within an existing building.
Fortunately, it has not yet been used for its intended purpose and we hope it won’t need to be. However, after the pandemic, as around £15 million of public money has been spent on this project, we hope the hospital can become part of the NHS offer locally.
Further to this, we would like to suggest it could house the proposed trauma unit, which is planned to go to Cardiff.
Many will be aware of the debate around the location of the trauma unit, in which we strongly made the case for it coming to Swansea. This now presents an opportunity to rectify what we believe was a wrong decision to locate it in Cardiff. It’s worth remembering that the trauma unit is supposed to service not just Swansea, but the whole of West Wales, which makes this a much better option”.
Here are a few photographs of the site, leading from the first phase, so you can see what it looked like at the start, to the area that has already been handed over to the NHS for fitting out.