Solihull Hospital, in the West Midlands, is closing its minor injuries unit with anyone who has the Covid-18 virus will be treated elsewhere.
That means that all non-surgical work will be moved to the nearby Heartlands, as well as the Queen Elizabeth Hospitals in Birmingham.
The University Hospital’s Birmingham Trust said that it was possible due to the falling number of cases in the region.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service have said that patients who are due to receive elective surgery will be screened beforehand for coronavirus and may have to self-isolate from members of their families before procedures to reduce the risk.
The initial focus will be on providing time-critical surgeries such as cancer operations.
Jonathon Brotherton, the Trust’s chief operating officer, said: “In order to do that, we need to be able to give the public the confidence that the hospital is, as far as we can possibly make it, Covid-free, and that then will encourage people to come back to the NHS for essential treatment that they need that they are not currently able to access, or willing to access, because of their concerns”.
The changes mark the Trust’s second phase of its Covid-19 response, which is planned to be operational from June 1.
