NHS Nightingale Hospitals in Leicester and Solihull stood down without treating a single patient

The Solihull Nightingale hub set up over the New Year to increase capacity amid the Omicron crisis has closed without treating a single patient. Credit: BPM

NHS Nightingale centres in Leicester and Solihull set up over the New Year to increase capacity amid the Omicron crisis are among those being dismantled having never admitted a single patient.

A network of 'Nightingale surge hubs' was created last year to help hospitals manage amid fears of a tidal wave of coronavirus infections from the Omicron variant.

Eight centres were set up around the country at an estimated cost of more than £10.6 million.But, much like they're costly predecessors, such as the Nightingale at NEC Birmingham, they most have now been stood down without treating anybody.All hubs bar Preston will be closed, the NHS confirmed.

The NHS said it hoped to never have to use this additional space, but it was there as a back up option.

An NHS spokesperson said: “Nightingale Hubs were created to provide additional capacity for local services in the event they came under very intense pressure and currently, they are not required in seven areas of the country.”

The eight hubs across the UK were set up at a cost of £10,672,088.32 in total, according to Parliamentary records. Credit: PA

Earlier this week, Health Secretary and Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid visited Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital.When asked about the Nightingale Hospital in Solihull, he confirmed it hadn't been used and called this a "good news thing".Mr Javid said: "The Nightingale hospitals around the country were there as a contingency plan should our hospitals become overwhelmed when we were experiencing different waves of Covid."It is right that we got them ready. We stood them up in case they were needed. But I think it was actually good that we did not need to use the Nightingale hospitals because of all the other actions that we took to deal with Omicron."It's just worth remembering how the British people came forward for booster jabs when they were asked to do so."So the fact the Nightingale hubs were not used is a good news thing."The eight hubs across the UK were set up at a cost of £10,672,088.32 in total, according to Parliamentary records. The individual costs of the Birmingham, Solihull and Leicester sites is not known.According to The Telegraph, only the site in Preston treated patients. The newspaper reported this figure was "roughly seven".

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