World famous Yorkshireman Capt Tom Moore opens new Nightingale Hospital
World famous fundraiser, Captain Tom Moore from Keighley, has officially opened the new Nightingale hospital in Harrogate.
The 99 year old veteran did the honours via a video-link this afternoon. Captain Moore has so far raised more £27million for NHS charities in the fight against coronavirus.
Captain Tom Moore said he was honoured to be opening the new hospital and that he was still amazed by the amount of kindness and generosity from the public despite it being an uncertain time for many.
NHS Chief Executive Sir Simon Stevens said inviting Captain Moore to be the guest of honour at the opening of NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and Humber was the least they could do to thank him for his 'inspiring service'.
The former Harrogate convention centre was transformed into the new facility in less than 3 weeks, to take the pressure off conventional hospitals across Yorkshire.
It took 30,000 hours of labour to construct the hospital, some of which has been captured on this incredible time-lapse footage below.
The construction of the site needed:
13 miles of copper
15,000 m² of vinyl
18,000 m² of hygienic walls
1,000 pieces of IT equipment with 100 miles of cable
More than 7 million litres of oxygen
More than 600 people working together from a number of organisations including the NHS, BAM Construction and the Armed Forces
More than 30,000 hours of labour
Some well-known faces have been sharing their messages of thanks and support to everyone involved in the NHS Nightingale hospital.
Seven Nightingale hospitals have now been 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.