Physiotherapist takes lead role at new Covid-19 emergency hospital

The emergency Covid-19 hospital, which is expected to open this week, is based at the site of the ExCeL conference centre in East London. The venue has now been converted into a fully equipped medical facility, which can provide support to thousands of patients with coronavirus.

NHS Nightingale currently has 500 beds, all of which are equipped with ventilators and oxygen, and NHS England plans to expand the hospital’s capacity over the coming weeks – increasing the total number of beds to up to 5000.

Complex ventilation

Ms Moses, who normally works as a consultant respiratory physiotherapist at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, has experience of treating patients who have respiratory muscle weakness and require long-term ventilation.

Her expertise, as a specialist in complex ventilation, is likely to prove useful in the treatment of coronavirus patients with severe respiratory problems, as she has experience of weaning, invasive and non-invasive ventilation (NIV), airway clearance and tracheostomy care.

Dedicated teamwork

Commenting on her new role, Ms Moses said: ‘My first impressions are that the London AHP NHS leadership teams are really stepping up' and she praised the work of ‘all the background NHSE/HEE staff’ too.

She described ‘an incredible sense of teamwork in the planning and preparation phase’ among all the NHS and support staff working at the hospital, and said:

Everyone is pulling together to make this happen.

In the lead up to the hospital opening, Ms Moses added that she had witnessed: ‘Dedication, passion, enthusiasm and kindness on so many levels across military, NHS and supporting organisations.’

‘AHPs have never had a more important role than now,' she said. ‘So my ask is that we continue to prepare our AHP workforce across the whole NHS pathway.’

More emergency hospitals planned

NHS England plans to open two further emergency Covid-19 hospitals, which will be constructed at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham and at Manchester’s Central Convention Complex.