Manchester Nightingale Hospital to ‘cease operations’

Manchester’s Nightingale Hospital will “cease operations” in March as COVID-19 cases continue to decline in the North West region.

The Manchester Central healthcare facility was quickly assembled by NHS and army members over a two-week period in April at the beginning of the pandemic – creating space for as many as 750 beds.

After a period of closure in 2020, the facility reopened at the end of October – used as a rehabilitation centre for patients recovering from coronavirus.

At a press conference this week, Manchester City Council Leader Sir Richard Leese revealed that healthcare would halt at the Nightingale Hospital due to falling occupation.

NHS England said the facility would remain in place for as long as required.

Lease stated: “We’re fairly clear we’ve reached the peak of the crisis, admissions are going down.

“The occupation of Nightingale is going down, and it’s still on schedule to cease operations by the end of March.”

Leese also added that whilst the number of people in intensive care in Greater Manchester was falling, it was still “a long way to go before we could say we’re able to return to anything like normal.”

“The hospitals are predicting that we’ll have this number of ICU beds occupied not necessarily with the same proportion of COVID patients, probably until early April,” the council leader told press.

COVID-19 cases are continuing to dwindle in most boroughs of Greater Manchester, but at a slower pace than in many other areas of England.

Over 700,000 people in the region have received their first dose of the vaccine – including 91% of over 70s.