OPERATING under extreme pressure in the “unique circumstances” of the Covid-19 crisis has brought praise for the specialist teams at Curtis Painting Group.
To ensure other urgent and emergency treatment can continue at North Wales’ main hospitals, temporary field hospitals have been created to meet the challenges of dealing with the pandemic and beyond. A 16,000 square foot indoor wooden skate park at Deeside Leisure Centre has been converted into ward space with 430 beds while work at Bangor University has created beds for a further 250 patients.
Curtis Painting Group, acting as sub-contractors to Vinci Construction as part of the Integrated Health Projects initiative under the Welsh Health Framework, joined other construction professionals who turned the buildings into functioning hospitals in a matter of weeks.
Following the handover of the sites to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, the organisation’s chairman, Mark Polin, paid tribute to the teams whose work resulted in the rapid completion of the vital work. He said: “The progress has been astonishing and without your hard work and dedication this would not have been possible.
“My thanks go to those people who worked at the sites, day in and day out, to put our plans and vision in place.” John Roberts, regional managing director of Integrated Health Projects, added: “My personal thanks go to you for your assistance in ensuring successful delivery of the projects under such unique circumstances and within such a short timescale. “We are truly grateful for the time, considerable effort and dedication that has gone into the delivery of the projects.” According to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, it is highly likely that urgent and emergency care unrelated to Covid-19 will increase over the coming months. This will result in more people needing hospital beds while NHS hospitals continue to manage the virus demand. The extra bed capacity in the field hospitals will now be available to help to take pressure off the region’s main hospitals. Gary Owen, managing director at Curtis Painting Group, said: “The Covid-19 crisis has seen the whole country pull together to meet the challenges of this difficult time and we are proud that we have been able to play our part in this vital project in North Wales. “Our teams went above and beyond, working under extreme pressure, to make sure the work to convert the sites on Deeside and in Bangor into field hospitals was completed within demanding timescales to ensure the health and safety of our local communities.”