Harrogate council billed NHS £3 million for Nightingale costs

Harrogate Borough Council billed the NHS more than £3 million in costs associated with Harrogate’s Nightingale Hospital.

Set up at the council-owned Harrogate Convention Centre in April last year at a cost of £27 million, the hospital did not treat a single covid patient during the pandemic. But it was used to provide CT scans to non-coronavirus patients.

Following the rollout of the vaccination programme, the 500-bed hospital was decommissioned in March this year.

Although the local authority did not charge the health service rent, it did invoice them for other related costs.

Figures from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust show a total of £3,004,634 was billed to the trust during the time the Nightingale was in place.

Invoices between £124,000 and £375,000 a month were made by the council.

A spokesperson for Harrogate Borough Council confirmed the payments were for utility bills, business rates and building insurance.

Nightingale payments to council since April 2020:

April, May, June: £378,220

July: £353,279

August: £144,583

September: £161,518

October: £124,449

November: £359,968

December: £361,657

2021

January: £372,152

February: £373,479

March: £375,329

As previously reported, the health service also paid consultancy firm KPMG £922,899 to help set up the Harrogate Nightingale.

NHS documents revealed Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust paid the company the sum during the first three months of the hospital being in place.

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During the pandemic, the government earmarked £3 billion of funding to support the seven Nightingale hospitals across the country.

‘A costly PR stunt’

While it was heralded as a “tremendous success” by local councillors, the lack of use of the Nightingale proved to be contentious and prompted calls for an inquiry.

Harrogate councillor Jim Clark, who sits on the West Yorkshire Joint Health Scrutiny Committee, proposed an investigation into the hospital in order to “learn lessons” from the matter.

Cllr Clark also suggested using the hospital for other medical reasons, such as routine operations, flu jabs and patient recuperation.

Meanwhile, Lord Newby, the Liberal Democrat leader in the House of Lords, who lives in Ripon, has described the Nightingale as a “costly PR stunt” and said it should have been closed months before it was decommissioned.

Crane to remove Harrogate Nightingale oxygen tanks tomorrow

The NHS will remove the oxygen tanks from the former Nightingale hospital in Harrogate tomorrow. It will be an historic moment for the town. The tanks have loomed over Harrogate and overshadowed the Royal Hall for a year.

The Nightingale hospital never treated coronavirus patients. Staff did use it to provide CT scans to none coronavirus patients.

The NHS confirmed last month that it will dismantle all seven of the Nightingale hospitals across the country.

A small section of Ripon Road, immediately outside the Royal Hall, will close at 4am to allow for a crane to remove the tanks. It is unclear how long it will take.

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Meanwhile, local councillors from the West Yorkshire Joint Health Scrutiny Committee are investigating whether lessons could be learned from Harrogate’s Nightingale hospital.

The committee will look into how the hospital would have been staffed and what services would have been affected if it had been needed.

When the oxygen tanks went up last year.

Councillors agreed to start the investigation at the next meeting of the health scrutiny committee on June 22. They will call in NHS officials to give evidence.

The Harrogate Nightingale cost £27 million to set up and served the entire Yorkshire and Humber region,

Investigation launched into Harrogate Nightingale hospital

An investigation is to be held into what lessons can be learned from Harrogate’s Nightingale hospital.

West Yorkshire Joint Health Scrutiny Committee will carry out the investigation, which it is hoped will provide evidence for any future public inquiry into covid.

Cllr Jim Clark, a Conservative who represents North Yorkshire on the panel, proposed the investigation and said it was “important to learn lessons” from the Nightingale.

The committee will look into how the hospital would have been staffed and what services would have been affected if it had been needed.

Councillors agreed to start the investigation at the next meeting of the health scrutiny committee on June 22. NHS officials will be called to give evidence to the panel.

The Harrogate Nightingale, which cost £27 million to set up and served the entire Yorkshire and Humber region, did not treat a single covid patient.

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However, it has been used to provide CT scans to non-covid patients.

Cllr Clark, who had previously called for a public inquiry into the hospital, said an investigation should be carried out as soon as possible.

He said:

“We need to look at what lessons can be learned from having had the Nightingale. 

“We have not had to use it, but I think we need to know how we would have staffed it and what capacity it would have been able to provide. Whether the staff would have come from other hospitals and what affect that would have had on the services within the rest of Yorkshire.

“There are a number of questions that need asking.”

NHS England confirmed earlier this month that the Nightingale will close and return to being a convention centre after this month.

The NHS has been paying utility bills of between £125,000 and £160,000 per month to Harrogate Borough Council.

Lord Newby, the Liberal Democrat leader in the House of Lords, who lives in Ripon, has described the Nightingale as a “costly PR stunt” and said it should have been closed “months ago”.

Harrogate Nightingale could be used as vaccination centre

Harrogate’s Nightingale Hospital could become a vaccination centre when a coronavirus vaccine is ready to be rolled out.

The Prime Minister’s spokesperson said the country’s Nightingales were “one possible way” of offering the vaccine to significant numbers of people.

Set up in April at a cost of £27 million, the Harrogate Nightingale has so far not treated a single covid patient.

It comes as health bosses in North Yorkshire said earlier this week that they will be prepared to rollout the vaccine once it is ready.

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Amanda Bloor, accountable officer at North Yorkshire CCG, told a press briefing of the North Yorkshire Resilience Forum that health bosses were putting plans in place for the county

She said:

“Although there is some uncertainty on timescales, we will be ready in December to deploy a vaccine if it is available.

“But it is likely that wider vaccination will take place after Christmas and into the New Year. Any vaccination that happens before Christmas would be for very vulnerable groups.

“We are planning to be ready for this with our partners.

“Even when we do have a vaccine, we still need to observe any social distancing measures, lockdown measures and the guidance around hand washing and hygiene.”

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health at North Yorkshire County Council. also welcomed the results of the vaccine but warned that “long term behavioural change” was needed to tackle the virus.

The Pfizer and BioMTech vaccine was revealed to be 90% effective after being tested on 43,500.

A rollout of the vaccine is expected to target older and vulnerable people first.

Harrogate Nightingale ‘could open with five days notice’

The Harrogate Nightingale hospital will be ready to take patients at five days notice by the end of the week, according to its medical director.

Dr Yvette Oade said it was “hard to predict” when the hospital, which was set-up at a cost of £27m to cater for covid patients in Yorkshire and the Humber, might be needed.

But she said people should be “very concerned” because the infection rate was rising rapidly across the region and hospital admissions were increasing.

The government said last week the Harrogate Nightingale was being put on standby.

Speaking on BBC Look North last night, Dr Oade described the hospital as “an insurance policy” that would be required if hospitals in the region reached maximum capacity. She added:

“You only draw on your insurance policies when things have not worked to plan.

“Right now the hospital isn’t needed, our colleagues are doing a great job around the region.

“People should be very concerned. Infection rates in Yorkshire and the Humber are one of the highest in the country. We’ve seen hospital admissions rising quickly.

“By the end of this week we will be ready to open to patients if given five days notice.

“Right now the hospital isn’t needed. It’s hard for me to predict when this hospital might be needed. The important thing is if we are needed then we will be ready.”

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Last week Lord Newby, the Ripon-based Liberal Democrat leader in the House of Lords suggested the hospital might not be able to open fully because it “simply does not have the staff available to allow it to operate safely”.

Asked about staffing, Dr Oade said the Harrogate Nightingale would need staff from other NHS organisations.

She added:

“If we get to the stage where we need the Nightingale hospitals it’s likely that because our acute trust will be so full that some of those procedures that they are currently doing will need to be halted.”