The NHS has insisted the Harrogate Nightingale hospital is able to take patients despite concerns it lacks the capacity to do so.
Many people are wondering why the building remains on standby at a time when the new mutant strain of covid has sent infections soaring and put tremendous strain on hospitals.
A record 53,000 people were confirmed to have covid yesterday and hospital admissions have surpassed the peak of the first wave.
The Health Service Journal even reported yesterday there were plans to transfer patients from overloaded London hospitals to Yorkshire.
But the Harrogate Nightingale, which was set up at the town’s convention centre at breakneck speed in spring for covid patients in Yorkshire and the Humber, has yet to treat a single person with coronavirus. It has been used for CT scans.
Ripon peer Lord Newby, the Liberal Democrats leader in the House of Lords, has said the Nightingale “simply does not have the staff available to allow it to operate safely”.
Conservative MP John Redwood has called for ministers to explain why they are not using the Nightingales.
Read more:
- Looking back: Extraordinary effort to build a Nightingale hospital in Harrogate
- Harrogate Nightingale remains ‘on standby’ amid new covid strain
The NHS has repeatedly declined to issue more than a brief statement in response to questions from the Stray Ferret about the Nightingale or requests for interviews.
It did so again yesterday when we asked if there were still plans to use the hospital, particularly in light of reports that the London Nightingale was being dismantled.
A spokesperson for the NHS in the north east and Yorkshire said:
“The Nightingale hospitals in the north east and Yorkshire has been running a clinical imaging service since June with more than 3,000 patients receiving a diagnostic test or CT scan, and can take patients if required.”
