NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and the Humber | |
---|---|
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | |
Geography | |
Location | Harrogate Convention Centre King's Rd, Harrogate HG1 5LA, Yorkshire |
Coordinates | 53°59′48.48″N 1°32′29″W / 53.9968000°N 1.54139°W |
Organisation | |
Care system | NHS England |
Type | COVID-19 critical care Field hospital |
Services | |
Beds |
|
History | |
Opened | 21 April 2020 |
Closed | March 2021 |
Links | |
Website | https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/nightingaleyh/ |
The NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and the Humber is one of the temporary NHS Nightingale Hospitals set up by NHS England in 2020 to help to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospital was constructed inside the Harrogate Convention Centre, Harrogate, and from 4 June 2020 was repurposed as a radiology diagnostic clinic.
In March 2021, it was confirmed the hospital would close.[1]
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.[2][3] They were 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.[4]
The hospital was initially rumoured, then announced as officially planned on 3 April 2020,[5] and became ready to open on 14 April.[6] It was formally opened, via video link, by 99-year-old fundraiser Captain Tom Moore.[7] It was administered under Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.[8]
It initially had beds for up to 500 people.[9] It was not a conventional walk-in hospital, and only patients who were already inpatients in other hospitals in the region and met certain criteria were to be admitted.[9] They would stay at the hospital until they were assessed as being ready to move back to a local hospital.[9]
The hospital was not required to treat COVID-19 patients in April and May. Instead it was reopened as a radiology outpatient clinic, offering CT scanning, from 4 June 2020.[10] Appointments would be available seven days a week, through Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.[10] In August, it was reported that this usage would continue until March 2021.[11]
On 12 October, 2020 amidst a rise in cases in Northern England, the hospital was placed on standby.[12]
Its closure was confirmed in March 2021.[1]
The following have been involved in the creation of the hospital: