The new NHS Nightingale Hospital will be ready for use from next week.
A new hospital will open to provide support for thousands of more patients with coronavirus, NHS England announced today.
The NHS Nightingale Hospital, London, will be ready for use from next week and has been named after Florance Nightingale.
The hospital, based at the ExCeL conference centre in East London, will initially provide up to 500 beds equipped with ventilators and oxygen.
The capacity will then continue to increase, potentially up to two wards with around 2,000 beds each, should it be required.
Slow the spread.
Military personnel have been involved in the planning stages and continue to support NHS England by providing infrastructure, logistics and project management advice.
Announced by Matt Hancock yesterday in the Coronavirus daily briefing, in a statement following he said; “In the face of this unprecedented global emergency, we are taking exceptional steps to increase NHS capacity so we can treat more patients, fight the virus and save lives.
“I applaud the NHS, engineers, and the military for their continued work on setting up the new NHS Nightingale Hospital so it is ready to open its doors next week – a remarkable feat in these challenging circumstances.”
Single biggest health challenge.
Mr. Hancock added that 6,147 nurses have signed up to return to practice and around 1,800 final year student nurses will be given temporary registration to bolster staffing numbers through the pandemic.
Responding to the news, Ruth May, the chief nursing officer for England, said: “This is the single biggest health challenge our country has faced in generations, and we need everyone to follow the guidance set out by government about how to stay safe and practise good hygiene.
“Nurses, midwives and care staff across the NHS and social care always step up to the plate, and I’m thrilled but unsurprised that some of my retired colleagues are ready to re-join the NHS at this crucial time for our country, which is seeing the NHS ramp up the number of beds, services and facilities to help people to manage over the coming weeks and months.”