NHS Nightingale Hospital North East
Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Geography
LocationCentre of Excellence for Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing, Washington, Tyne and Wear
Coordinates54°55′26″N 1°28′42″W / 54.92396°N 1.47837°W / 54.92396; -1.47837
Organisation
Care systemNHS England
TypeCOVID-19 critical care
Field hospital
Services
Beds
  • up to 460 people
History
Opened5 May 2020
Closed31 March 2022
Links
Websitecoronavirus.newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/nhs-nightingale-north-east/

The NHS Nightingale Hospital North East was one of the temporary NHS Nightingale Hospitals set up by NHS England to help to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. It was constructed inside the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing, Washington.

Background

To add extra critical care capacity during the COVID-19 epidemic in England, 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 have been named "Nightingale Hospitals", after Florence Nightingale who came to prominence for nursing soldiers during the Crimean War and is regarded as the founder of modern nursing.[3]

On 12 October, 2020 amidst a rise in cases in Northern England, the hospital was placed on standby.[4]

Details

The site was converted to be a hospital at the cost of £23.5 million.[5] The site had 460 beds available with the building divided into 16 wards.[6] It was operated by Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.[7] The hospital has been prepared by the British Armed forces working with the local NHS Trusts.[8] County Durham MP Richard Holden said, when announcing the hospital on 10 April, that it was expected to be open for patients in the following two weeks.[7]

The hospital was officially opened on 5 May 2020, in a virtual ceremony, by Matt Hancock (Secretary of State for Health). The opening ceremony also featured television celebrities Ant and Dec, football pundit Alan Shearer and cricketer Ben Stokes.[9]

It was not a conventional walk-in hospital - only patients who are already inpatients in other hospitals in the region and meet certain criteria were to be admitted.[10] They would have stayed at the hospital until they were assessed as being ready to move back to a local hospital.[10]

The hospital was kept on standby to treat Covid patients but did not admit a single patient.[11][12] On 12 October 2020 amidst a rise in cases in Northern England, the hospital was placed on readiness to receive patients, but again did not.[13]

In January 2021 NHS England admitted that it would not be admitting any patients into the specially created hospital.[14] Later the same month it was announced that the hospital was to become instead a mass vaccination centre.[14]

On 31 March 2022 the hospital was closed for the final time.[15]

Transportation

On 25 January 2021, Go North East introduced a bus route branded ConnectorShuttle which operated between Concord bus station and the Nightingale Hospital. The service connected with bus route 56 at the bus station.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Sabbagh, Dan (16 March 2020). "Army likely to embed medics in NHS hospitals to help fight coronavirus". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  2. ↑ Schraer, Rachel (24 March 2020). "ExCeL Centre to be used as coronavirus hospital". BBC News. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  3. ↑ "Coronavirus: Nightingale Hospital opens at London's ExCel centre". BBC News. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  4. ↑ Sparrow, Andrew (12 October 2020). "UK coronavirus live: Nightingale hospitals in Manchester, Sunderland and Harrogate on standby to take patients". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  5. ↑ "Sunderland's £23.5m Nightingale Hospital closes". BBC News. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  6. ↑ "Birmingham Nightingale hospital 'operational'". BBC News. 10 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  7. 1 2 Lindsay, Kali (10 April 2020). "14 pictures of the new Nightingale hospital due to open in the North East". nechronicle. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  8. ↑ "This is when new 460-bed Nightingale Hospital North East will open near Nissan plant". Shields Gazette. 10 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  9. ↑ "Coronavirus: Nightingale hospital opens in Sunderland". BBC News. 5 May 2020.
  10. 1 2 "NHS Nightingale North East". NHS Newcastle Hospitals. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  11. ↑ Sunderland's Nightingale Hospital will be used 'only as a last resort' in second Covid wave 7 September 2020 www.chroniclelive.co.uk, accessed 14 October 2020
  12. ↑ What has happened to England's seven Nightingale hospitals? 8 October 2020 www.theguardian.com, accessed 14 October 2020
  13. ↑ Sparrow, Andrew (12 October 2020). "UK coronavirus live: Nightingale hospitals in Manchester, Sunderland and Harrogate on standby to take patients". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  14. 1 2 Edgar, Bill (24 January 2021). "Nightingale Hospital to open as Covid-19 mass vaccination centre". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  15. ↑ Ford, Helen (30 March 2022). "North East landmark of the pandemic closes its doors for good". ITV News. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  16. ↑ "Go North East launches one of the UK's first dedicated vaccination shuttle bus services". Bdaily Business News. 25 January 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
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