The NHS has confirmed that the Nightingale hospitals, that were set up to cope with a surge of Covid-19, are to be dismantled from April. They were erected in rapid time last spring as part of fears that the NHS might be overwhelmed. However, the temporary hospitals in England were never used for COVID, although UNN’s Oliver Down understands that some were used as rehab centres.
The Nightingale sites in London and Sunderland will stay open and will be used for vaccinations. However, the Nightingales were never used on a large scale primarily because the NHS did not have enough trained staff to staff the Nightingales as well as the permanent hospitals. This has led to many questioning why they were ever built.
Yorkshire’s 500-bed hospital was opened by the late Capt. Sir Tom Moore and will will close next month without ever treating a single patient. For the remainder of this month, it will operate as a testing centre.
An NHS spokesman has said that the health service has now learned more about Covid-19 and how to successfully treat it. The spokesperson said: “Even in the winter wave – which saw more than 100,000 patients with the virus admitted in a single month – there were beds available across the country”.
The spokesman went on to say that the Nightingale hospitals had been “on hand as the ultimate insurance policy in case existing hospital capacity was overwhelmed”.
Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
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