NHS Nightingale hospital up and running in Harrogate

NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber opened this week, less than three weeks since work started to convert the space in Harrogate Convention Centre to provide 500 beds for coronavirus patients, if needed by local services.

It is one of seven Nightingale hospitals to be set up around the country as part of a massive NHS effort to respond to the greatest global health emergency in more than a century.

The converted space inside Harrogate Convention Centre

This extra capacity is on top of the 33,000 additional beds freed up across NHS hospitals – the equivalent of building 50 district general hospitals – and the up to 8,000 beds put at the NHS’s disposal through an unprecedented deal with the independent sector.

These measures combined mean that capacity still exists in hospitals to care for patients with coronavirus, as well as other patients who may need urgent and emergency treatment, with the Nightingales standing ready if local services need them.

Steve Russell, Chief Executive, NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and The Humber and Chief Executive And Harrogate District NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This new NHS Nightingale Hospital – like the others across the country – is an extraordinary achievement, and provides local people and staff with the reassurance that there will be additional beds available if they are required. It is a vital insurance policy, which we hope will not be needed.”

“I have been incredibly impressed by the sheer dedication, professionalism and altruism of everyone involved in setting up NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and The Humber – from the NHS clinical staff and engineers to the construction workers and military planners.”