Everything you need to know about Jersey's Nightingale Hospital

Why was Millbrook Playing Fields chosen as the site for the Nightingale Hospital?

Jersey's government looked at a variety of options before choosing the site in Millbrook.

Here are the details of why some sites were ruled out:

  • The new Les Quennevais school site in St Brelade and Fort Regent

Both would have required changing the building structurally to get the required set up of wards, so were deemed unsuitable.

  • The Royal Jersey Showground in Trinity

It was decided it was too far away from the current General Hospital.

  • The People's Park

It was on too much of a slope.

  • Lower Victoria Park

It was found to be too small.

  • Les Jardin Car Park

It is on too much of a slope and would require removal of some facilities based there.

  • FB Fields

It was considered a good site and a suitable size, but was further away from the current hospital than the team would like.

Millbrook playing fields is flat, big enough, has access to drainage and electricity and it is close to the current hospital.

What is the £14.4 million going to be spent on?

This includes the cost of bringing the specialist staff over from the Netherlands. It has taken a week to do, and the Dutch team will soon be returning home.

What is the timeline?

  • 2 April: It was decided a field hospital was needed

  • 2-7 April: A site was decided on and the building design was assessed

  • 8 April: Final decision was made

  • 10 April: Work started on the site

  • 4 May: Nightingale Hospital will open

The hospital is expected to be on site for at least four months. Once the pandemic is over, it will be dismantled and the Millbrook Playing Fields returned to how it was. All the top soil and turf has been stored so it can be returned.

What will the hospital look like inside?

It will be set out in a Nightingale style, with two rows of 15 beds in each ward. It will be built in a modular way so the number of beds can be reduced and increased to a maximum of 180.

The layout of the new Nightingale Hospital in Jersey. Credit: Government of Jersey

Each bed bay will have:

  • An adjustable hospital bed

  • Emergency cord

  • A chair, locker, table and hand sanitiser dispenser

  • An oxygen outlet and pipeline

  • Suction unit

The bedroom pods which will be in the new Nightingale Hospital. Credit: Government of Jersey

As well as the wards the hospital will include:

  • Nursing bases

  • Separate areas for nurses to put PPE on and take it off

  • Staff changing areas

  • A room for an on call doctor to sleep

  • Staff rest areas

  • Porter and domestic hub

  • Laundry and linen storage

  • A control room and security hub

  • Area for X-ray, ultra sounds and ECGs

  • A multi faith space

  • A recovery bay

  • A discharge bay

  • A morgue

What more do I need to know?

  • Nightingale hospitals are designed so fewer nurses can oversee more beds

  • The hospital will have its own oxygen generation plant, so there will always be enough oxygen for patients

  • The military have been involved in discussions on how the hospital will operate. They can be brought in to help with logistics. This is both on island military and those from off island

  • The hospital will be accessed off Victoria Avenue. There will be some staff parking on site, but staff will mostly have to park in the laybys on the avenue