Julian welcomes new ‘Nightingale’ hospital to fight coronavirus in Yorkshire
April 3, 2020
I am reassured by the official confirmation that a new ‘Nightingale’ emergency coronavirus hospital is being created from scratch for the Yorkshire and Humber region at Harrogate Convention Centre.
This will provide our local NHS with vital extra capacity to absorb the strain of virus cases, with 500 extra beds for the region, with ventilators and oxygen.
I want to pay tribute to everyone from the regional and national NHS, the armed forces and local authorities who are making this happen, and providing local residents with greater confidence that our local health service is able to address the rising tide of cases.
I understand the Harrogate site has been announced alongside one for Bristol, following the emergency hospitals already created for Manchester, Birmingham and London.
This should ensure that the NHS is ready to absorb the impact across all regions of the country, and is part of an amazing effort to ramp up the number of hospital beds available.
The health service has already freed up over 33,000 beds overall for future virus patients, the equivalent of 50 new hospitals, with the private healthcare sector contributing an additional 8,000, as well as transferring equipment and staff to the NHS.
I remain available to assist all residents during this challenging period, and am working through enquiries and flagging up issues with the government as rapidly as possible.
The extraordinary achievement in getting Harrogate and other emergency hospitals going so quickly gives me confidence that together, we have what it takes to get through this.
