Temporary NHS Nightingale Hospital London will be closing in the coming weeks after only treating 54 patients. The hospital will close on May 15th, but remain on standby in the event of a second wave of Covid 19 infections. 

No further patients are being admitted for treatment in the facility and the 12 that remain there will be sent to neighbouring hospitals for the rest of their treatment. 

The Nightingale London was not utilised to its full capacity as established hospitals expanded their intensive care facilities coping much better with the influx of critically ill patients than expected. 

The hospital resides in the ExCel exhibition space – usually used for large events such as Crufts and Comic Con – that was transformed into the hospital in just nine days.  The temporary facility can hold as many as 4,000 patients and was staffed by NHS medics and the military.

To support the new hospital, less than 5 miles away a temporary morgue was built on the Wanstead flats to accommodate the large increase in the number of deaths in the capital. The new facility is being utilised as a holding place before a burial or cremation can take place and visitors are not permitted inside the site.  The site remains open.  

By Danielle Freeman-Grantham