NHS Nightingale Hospital London
The NHS Nightingale Hospital London was the first of the NHS Nightingale Hospitals, temporary hospitals set up by NHS England for the COVID-19 pandemic. It was housed in the ExCeL London convention centre in East London. The hospital was rapidly planned and constructed, being formally opened on 3 April and receiving its first patients on 7 April 2020. It served 54 patients during the first wave of the pandemic, and was used to serve non-COVID patients and provide vaccinations during the second wave. It was closed in April 2021.
This article is about the NHS temporary COVID-19 hospital in ExCeL London. For the private mental health clinic, see Nightingale Hospital (Marylebone). For other hospitals named "NHS Nightingale", see NHS Nightingale Hospitals. For other hospitals named "Nightingale", see Nightingale Hospital (disambiguation).NHS Nightingale Hospital London
Custom House, London, England
COVID-19 critical care
500 (potential for 4,000)
3 April 2020
April 2021
Background[edit]
To add extra critical care capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, and to treat those with COVID-19, plans were made to create further temporary hospital spaces for those in need of treatment and care.[1][2] They were named "Nightingale Hospitals", after Florence Nightingale, a nurse who came to prominence during the Crimean War and is regarded as the founder of modern nursing.[3]
Operational details[edit]
The hospital's role was to treat patients already intubated and ventilated at other London hospitals.[19]
On 30 March 2020 it was announced that legal responsibility for the hospital would be passed to Barts Health NHS Trust, an existing NHS trust, as NHS England does not have legal powers to manage a hospital directly.[20] The hospital's CEO was Charles Knight, seconded from within the Barts trust.[21]
The hospital was designed with capacity to receive and discharge up to 150 patients per day,[22] with the number of staff required at full capacity being reported as 16,000[23] and later as 25,000.[19]
Criticism[edit]
Partially due to its low occupancy and large cost to the taxpayer, the London Nightingale Hospital, along with its counterparts across the country, saw some criticism. Critics argued that the hospitals had been poorly planned, and were little more than a PR stunt. Supporters argued that the hospitals were "insurance" against the possibility of the pandemic completely overwhelming existing hospitals.[11] It has been claimed that one reason that the hospitals saw little use was that existing healthcare centres were reluctant to release staff to work in them, a reflection of a lack of understanding of the structure of the workforce in the healthcare sector.[24][18]
