Yorkshire's Nightingale Hospital to close next month

It was one of seven built in England in 2020 to try and prevent hospitals becoming overwhelmed during the pandemic

Nightingale Hospital, Yorkshire and the Humber
Author: Charlotte FoleyPublished 9th Mar 2021

Yorkshire's 500-bed Nightingale Hospital closing next month without treating a single coronavirus patient.

The emergency unit was set up at Harrogate's Convention Centre and opened by Captain Sir Tom Moore in April 2020.

Captain Tom Moore and his daughter Hannah speaking via videolink at the opening of NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and Humber

NHS England said existing hospitals have been able to increase their beds so successfully that the Nightingales are no longer needed.

In January, the Health Service Journal (HSJ) reported figures published by minister for innovation Lord Bethell, which put the total cost of the temporary hospitals at around 532 million by the end of the 2022 financial year.

The estimate included costs for setting up the Nightingales, running costs, stand-by costs and decommissioning costs.

An NHS spokeswoman said:

"Since the very early days of the pandemic the Nightingale hospitals have been on hand as the ultimate insurance policy in case existing hospital capacity was overwhelmed but, as we have learned more about coronavirus, and how to successfully treat Covid, existing hospitals have adapted to significantly surge critical care capacity, and even in the winter wave - which saw more than 100,000 patients with the virus admitted in a single month - there were beds available across the country.

"Thank you to the many NHS staff and partners who worked so hard to set the Nightingales up so swiftly and of course the public who followed the guidance on controlling the spread of the virus and helped to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed.''

She said vaccination services will continue at London and Sunderland to support the NHS vaccination programme.