Nightingales ready to ease NHS’s burden
NIGHTINGALE hospitals across Northern England are being prepared to open to avoid another NHS shutdown.
Three of the seven Covid-only temporary hospitals – in Manchester, Sunderland and Harrogate in North Yorkshire – were told to get ready as
data showed cases rising rapidly throughout most of the country.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was “sobering but necessary”.
NHS England Medical Director Prof Stephen Powis said the hospitals would help avoid a repeat of the shutdown of non-urgent services in the first wave. He said: “How they will be used will be up to local clinicians.”
He added that testing of hospital staff not showing symptoms was to begin in coronavirus hotspot areas, starting with the North West.