Coronavirus: First patients discharged from London’s Nightingale hospital

Doctors and nurses clapped as two men became the first patients to be discharged from London’s Nightingale Hospital after being treated for coronavirus.

The emergency facility – constructed in under two weeks at the Excel exhibition centre – can hold up to 4,000 beds and was built to make sure the NHS could cope with the COVID-19 outbreak.

One of those discharged, Simon Chung, was seen being lifted into an ambulance on a stretcher with a mask over his face as medics applauded his progress.

The father-of-one, 58, was given “expert care on a ventilator” while being treated in the capital’s docklands area, NHS England said.

He will now continue his recovery from coronavirus at Northwick Park hospital in Harrow.

The second man has not been named.

The London site – one of seven across England – was opened by Prince Charles and is the largest critical care unit in the world.

Those working there are using military techniques to protect their mental health.

Birmingham, Manchester, Harrogate, Bristol, Exeter and Sunderland are the other locations providing what is called “surge capacity”.

The sites in Manchester and Birmingham are ready to take patients, while Captain Tom Moore, who has raised more than £26m for the NHS, will be guest of honour at the opening of the Harrogate site on Tuesday, appearing via video link.

NHS England said critical care capacity in London is “holding up well”, with existing hospitals “managing despite the significant increase in demand for care”.

Coronavirus is the “greatest global health emergency in more than a century”, it said, adding that NHS trusts had freed up more than 33,000 beds – “the equivalent of 50 new hospitals”.

Sir Simon Stevens, head of the NHS in England, said “extensive” use of the London Nightingale site had not yet been necessary because of capacity in other hospitals and “the public, who have played their part by staying at home and saving lives”.

He added that with “further waves of coronavirus possible it is important that we have these extra facilities in place”.

It will count as a “huge success for the whole country if we never need to use them”, he said.

Eamonn Sullivan, nursing director at NHS Nightingale London, said the two discharged patients had a “long road to recovery”.

It was a reminder that everyone needs to “stay safe by following the government’s advice”, he added.

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: First patients discharged from London’s Nightingale hospital