THE vast NHS Nightingale Hospital in London, set up to provide extra capacity for the coronavirus outbreak, is to be effectively mothballed and is to stop admitting new patients following limited demand for its services.
Downing Street announced the makeshift hospital, with a capacity to take up to 4,000 patients, would be put “on standby” and noted that the fact it would not be taking new patients, as the cases of the virus in the UK capital had been falling, was regarded as a positive development.
Boris Johnson’s spokesman said that there were no new coronavirus admissions expected at the hospital in east London's ExCel centre in the coming days.
Although it would not accept new patients, the temporary hospital would be ready to resume operations in the future if it were needed, he explained.
"It's not likely that in the coming days we will need to be admitting patients to the London Nightingale while coronavirus in the capital remains under control.
"That's obviously a very positive thing and we remain grateful to everybody in London for following the Government's advice in helping to protect the NHS,” said the spokesman.
"What the Nightingale will be is effectively placed on standby so it would be ready to receive patients should that be required but we are not anticipating that will be the case," he added.
The first patients to the Nightingale hospital in the UK capital on April 7.
A combination of NHS staff, contractors and up to 200 military personnel took part in the hospital's construction, which was completed in just nine days.
The hospital, which opened officially on April 3, has been used to treat Covid-19 patients who have been transferred from other intensive care units across London.
Those admitted to the hospital were already on a ventilator and will remain at the Nightingale until their course of ventilation is finished.
Coronavirus patients suffering from other serious conditions, such as cardiac issues, will be cared for at other specialist centres.
There are seven Nightingale hospitals south of the border – including at Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and Harrogate with two others in Sunderland and Exeter due to be opened shortly. Again, each provides hundreds of additional beds should the local health services need them.
The temporary coronavirus hospital in Scotland is the Louisa Jordan Hospital in Glasgow while the one in Wales is the Dragon’s Heart Hospital in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
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