NHS set to build more Nightingale Hospitals

New NHS Nightingale hospitals will be built in Bristol and Harrogate to provide hundreds of extra beds if local services need them during the peak of coronavirus.

NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens will confirm that sites in the south west of England and Yorkshire – which will have up to 1,500 beds if needed – have joined Manchester and Birmingham as the latest locations for major new facilities outside of London. Each will serve the wider regions in which they are located. The new hospitals will be based at the University of the West of England, Bristol, which will be able to look after up to 1,000 patients, and the Harrogate Convention centre, which will be able to care for up to 500.

The first NHS Nightingale Hospital, based at London’s Excel centre, is expected to be officially opened on 3 April. Established in under a fortnight, the new hospital will be available as soon as patients across London and the south of England need it. Further such hospitals will open next in Birmingham and Manchester, offering up to 3,000 beds between them if they are needed as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

Stevens  said: “It’s nothing short of extraordinary that this new hospital in London has been established from scratch in less than a fortnight. The NHS, working with the military, has done in a matter of days what usually takes years. Now we are gearing up to repeat that feat at another four sites across the country to add to the surge capacity in current NHS hospitals.

“We’re giving the go ahead to these additional sites, hoping they may not be needing but preparing in case they are. But that will partly depend on continuing public support for measures to reduce growth in the infection rate by staying at home to save lives.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock added: “The nation is facing an unprecedented global emergency and we are taking exceptional measures to ensure the NHS has whatever it needs to tackle this virus. The NHS and the military have achieved something extraordinary in setting up NHS Nightingale, London in only a matter of days.

“It is testament to their hard work and dedication that an additional four hospitals will be rolled out across the nation. We must all play our part to assist our heroes on the health and social care frontline and I urge everyone to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.”