Nightingale hospital to reopen for Covid-19 admissions in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland health minister Robin Swann at Northern Ireland’s Nightingale hospital in Belfast in April. Picture: Michael Cooper/PA

Northern Ireland’s Nightingale hospital is to be re-established for admission of Covid-19 patients from across the region.

Stormont health minister Robin Swann said he had been reluctant to take the step but had been left with no alternative in the face of “rapidly escalating pressures” on all five of the region’s health trusts.