Sunderland's Nightingale Hospital North East on standby for next phase as Covid-19 cases spike

The announcement came ahead of a briefing from Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday, October 12 in which he will outline a new three-tier system of coronavirus restrictions for the country.

Parts of northern England are expected to be subject to so-called ‘tier three’ restrictions – the strictest of three bands set to be explained later on Monday – which could see pubs, gyms and casinos close in an effort to slow the spread.

Nine local authority areas in the North East – Durham, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland – are already subject to tougher local restrictions, which reports say are similar to those being introduced by the Government under ‘tier two’ of the new system.

During a Downing Street data briefing on Monday, NHS England’s Professor Stephen Powis said the temporary hospitals, set up as part of the national Covid-19 effort back in the spring, have been warned to “mobilise” and prepare for the next phase as cases of the virus continue to rise.

He said there would be increased testing of health staff in hotspot areas, and continued: “To protect our staff and our patients we will be introducing – with tests provided by the Test and Trace service – regular testing for staff in these high-risk areas, even when they don’t have symptoms.

“This will help us keep staff and patients in those hospitals as safe as possible.

“Secondly, we have asked the Nightingale hospitals in Manchester, Sunderland and Harrogate to prepare for this next phase.

“They are being asked to mobilise over the next few weeks to be ready to accept patients if necessary.”

It will be for local clinicians to decide whether they are used for Covid patients or to provide extra capacity to maintain services for people without coronavirus, he added.

The 460-bed Nightingale North East hospital, which opened in May near to the Nissan plant in Washington, had not admitted a single patient as of August but is due to remain open until March 2021 as ‘an insurance policy’ in case of a surge in coronavirus cases.

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