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Original poster

Nightingale Hospitals

35 replies

Poppyliveshere · 12/09/2020 21:01

I know that these were wound down mid summer, but were they dismantled and returned to their original form, or could they be reactivated if needed?

OP posts:
Itsagrandoldteam · 12/09/2020 21:04

I'm pretty sure they were just mothballed, they are probably ready to go, should they be needed.

raviolidreaming · 12/09/2020 21:07

Yep, ready in case needed. I was due to attend an event at the SEC in Glasgow in February 2021 and it's been cancelled as the NHS will still have the venue.

maleficent53 · 12/09/2020 21:09

Yes just need the staff

macaroniinapot · 12/09/2020 21:12

Ready to go if needed

ineedaholidaynow · 12/09/2020 21:12

Exeter one is being used for diagnostic testing

raviolidreaming · 12/09/2020 21:15

ineedaholidaynow reminds me, I think Glasgow is being used for ortho appointments to help clear the backlog.

AndPeggy08 · 12/09/2020 21:17

The Harrogate one never received any Covid patients but is currently still intact and being used for radiology appointments.

frumpety · 12/09/2020 21:24

The Harrogate one never received any Covid patients but is currently still intact

Did any of them look after Covid patients ?

ineedaholidaynow · 12/09/2020 21:28

Exeter one didn't

StatisticalSense · 12/09/2020 21:39

@frumpety
London certainly did and I think Birmingham got a handful.

Kassandra1 · 12/09/2020 21:42

Regardless, I'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them ...

Original poster
Poppyliveshere · 12/09/2020 21:45

@Kassandra1 I totally agree....was just worried that they’d been changed back too soon

OP posts:
RepeatSwan · 12/09/2020 21:46

They couldn't be used, even when needed, as there were no trained staff.

There are still no trained staff.

They could be used for the non-critical.bits I suppose.

ChampagneCommunist · 12/09/2020 21:48

Just a quick "did you know?" there are Nightingale Courts now too.

Courts to try and catch up, which are in some weird & wonderful places - including part of Peterborough Cathedral

www.gov.uk/government/news/10-nightingale-courts-unveiled

RepeatSwan · 12/09/2020 21:50

The nightingale courts make me Angry because they only recently shut all the courts!

I'm so cross all the time nowadays, it's so draining!

nocoolnamesleft · 12/09/2020 21:50

They were always a bit of a white elephant. Looking after the sickest patients takes well trained staff. The staff with that sort of level of training are already working full time (almost all in the NHS). When the NHS hospitals were on the brink, with lots of critically ill patients and staff also off ill, messages were flying around from the powers that be demanding to know who could be reassigned to the Nightingales.

Porcupineinwaiting · 12/09/2020 21:53

I'd rather the Nightingales existed than not but the truth is they're of limited use when treating COVID. Apart from the staffing issue, we now know that COVID is not just a respiratory disease but a systemic one. 50% of people w severe COVID need dialysis (not available at the Nightingales), many others have issues with their hearts, or blood clotting and need repeated blood tests and blood thinners. Not sure they're set up to do the necessary scans and tests to allow this.

DrMadelineMaxwell · 12/09/2020 21:55

Ours was set up in the local leisure centre in the gym and ice rink areas. It's rented for use as a hospital until at least March currently and has a handful of patients in it.

2bazookas · 12/09/2020 22:08

AFAIK they are being used as hospitals that have had no covid.

farfar2020 · 12/09/2020 22:09

The Nightingale Hospitals won't work a second time for acutely ill COVID patients. We now know they don't just have a respiratory illness, they also develop renal failure, heart failure, clots that cause strokes or PE's or DVT's. They may need input from many different specialities and The Nightingale Hospitals were never set up for that sort of care.

StrawberryPi · 12/09/2020 22:10

I was working at the London nightingale and it really annoys me how much rubbish people spout that they have read in a tabloid or online.

It has been mothballed but not completely dismantled. There were plenty of staff for the number of patients we got, although not really to expand further (without taking staff from elsewhere) but we were able to offer e.g. dialysis.

Coquohvan · 12/09/2020 22:15

On our regional news the Scottish Nightingale is currently being used for training some outpatient treatments. Cost 1.5M per month.

StilaOnTheWrongPlane · 12/09/2020 22:34

We had 2 round here. One has been dismantled and some beds etc taken to the other, which they are keeping till spring next year.

ClaireP20 · 17/12/2020 09:04

Sorry to revive this thread...but really, what the fuck is the point of these hospitals?! Currently sitting empty? I can't understand it..

RaspberryCoulis · 17/12/2020 09:07

The one in Glasgow has been used but for other purposes - a friend's DD is a medical student and they've been in there for training rather than being in hospitals.

Don't think it's ever seen any patients though.

There is talk about using it as a mass vaccination centre which makes sense as it's massive and would be easy to set up a system where you can process hundreds of people an hour, and keep them socially distanced.