Nightingale is refitted once again in London as cases surge

LONDON’S Nightingale hospital will finally be reopened for Covid patients as cases soar in the capital.

The NHS has confirmed Nightingale sites across England ‘are being readied to admit patients once again should they be needed’. It comes as hospitals in London and across the UK face mounting pressure from high infection rates.

The reopening of the ExCel Nightingale in east London will come as a relief to over-stretched NHS staff.

An NHS spokesman said: ‘In anticipation of pressures rising from the spread of the new variant infection, NHS London were asked to ensure the London Nightingale was reactivated and ready to admit patients as needed, and that process is underway.’

Doctors have previously warned the purpose-built Nightingale hospitals could not open because there is not enough staff to adequately service them.

The enormous structures, which cost an estimated £220million, were built at sites across England including Manchester,

Bristol, Sunderland, Harrogate, Exeter and Birmingham.

The Exeter site received its first Covid patients in November when it began accepting those transferred from the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, which was described as ‘very busy’.The Nightingale hospitals in Manchester, Bristol and Harrogate are in use currently for non-Covid patients, the spokesman said.

He added: ‘Covid inpatient numbers are rising sharply so the remaining Nightin

gales are being readied to admit patients again should they be needed, in line with best clinical practice developed over the first and second waves of coronavirus.’

NHS England medical director Stephen Powis has described the Nightingale hospitals as ‘our insurance policy, there as our last resort’.

He told the Downing Street press conference on Wednesday: ‘We asked all the Nightingale hospitals a few weeks ago to be ready to take patients if that was required. Indeed, some of them are already doing that, in Manchester taking step-down patients, in Exeter managing Covid patients, and in other places managing diagnostics, for instance.

Yesterday Defence Secretary Ben Wallace

said the military can work in Nightingale hospitals.

Speaking to Times Radio he said: ‘We stand ready to help with Nightingales if the critical pressures go beyond the capacity of the existing NHS.’

Ready for action: NHS England’s chief executive Sir Simon Stevens visits the London ExCel Nightingale hospital ALL SET IN MARCH...

Sparse: The site in the capital is cleared after cases fall across the country STRIPPED BARE

BUILDERS YESTERDAY Race against time: Construction crew prepare to rebuild the Nightingale hospital