London's NHS Nightingale to be mothballed but stay on standby in case of second Covid-19 peak
London’s Nightingale Hospital is to be mothballed just one month after it opened.
Staff at the giant field hospital have been told no new patients will be admitted and the facility will be put on standby.
The Nightingale was set up in the Excel exhibition centre to act as a dedicated intensive care unit for coronavirus patients.
It took just nine days to equip the hospital with beds and ventilators.
NHS managers were worried the pandemic would overwhelm London hospitals and ordered the creation of the Nightingale to take the strain.
It had the capacity to treat up to 4,000 patients but it is believed fewer than 100 were admitted.
News of the decision was given to staff by the hospital’s chief executive Professor Charles Knight.
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