Nightingale
© NHS England/Simon DewhurstThe Nightingale hospital in Harrogate will revert to its original use as a convention centre
Yorkshire's 500-bed Nightingale Hospital is to close without treating a single Covid-19 patient.

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

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


Comment: And all of these hospitals, many of which cost millions of pounds to set up, are either closed or in the process of closing after receiving next to no patients. Meanwhile the government is still threatening the public that the NHS could be overwhelmed at any moment: London's 4,000-bed Nightingale hospital to be SHUT after treating just 51 Covid-19 patients


The NHS said it would offer testing while it was being wound back.

In a statement, the NHS thanked its staff and partners "who worked so hard to set the Nightingales up so swiftly".

"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," the statement said.


Comment: Meanwhile patients in need of critical care are at risk of an early death either because their hospital appointments were cancelled or because they avoided hospitals for fear of 'overwhelming' them: UK gov figures show 75,000 could die because of lockdown, excess deaths are already soaring


"But, as we have learned more about coronavirus, and how to successfully treat Covid, existing hospitals have adapted to significantly surge critical care capacity."


Comment: They have, and due to social distancing, segregated wards, and so on, they have less space, less staff, and fewer patients are able to attend: NHS had 15% LESS patients this December compared to 2019 - Any crisis is due to budget cuts, staff shortages and excessive measures


The centre is owned by Harrogate Borough Council which has not received any rent from the NHS.

Last year, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said the council faced a £9m deficit as a result of the pandemic, most of which was lost income from the convention centre.