Swansea's Bay Field hospital is closing two years after the Covid pandemic sparked its sudden creation. The facility was intended to free up space in hospitals by transferring Covid and non-Covid patients who were out of danger to a facility at Llandarcy at first and then, as they recovered further, to the Bay before returning home. However, it was never actually used for its original purpose, but instead ended up as a mass vaccination centre.
The hospital was built from scratch extremely quickly after scientific modelling which showed the levels of infection which were overwhelming hospitals in Europe would produce the same level of hospitalisation in Wales, and eventually became the place hundreds of thousands of people received their Covid-19 vaccinations. It has also provided a venue for antibody testing, blood tests, nurse training and an outpatients' service for people with Long Covid. We visited the hospital in February when the minister for health and social services, Eluned Morgan, visited and spoke to some patients living with long Covid. You can recap what they had to say in a previous article here.
With decommissioning work due to begin at the end of July, the beds will be given new homes, hospital equipment will be shared out between other hospitals and community services, and medical services based at Bay Field Hospital will be relocated. Blood tests will be the last service to leave the building, with the last day of blood tests being next Friday, July 22. You can get the biggest Swansea news stories straight to your inbox with our newsletter.
