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Apr 2020

Coronavirus

Health Secretary says Harrogate Nightingale is a hospital 'nobody ever wanted'

Published: 21 Apr 2020, 17:32 BST

Updated: 21 Apr 2020, 17:34 BST

by Connor Creaghan

Matt Hancock praised the team that had turned the HCC into a hospital and said he hoped it would never be full

Harrogate Convention Centre has been set up as a field hospital since April, but no Covid patients have been treated there

The Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber was officially opened this afternoon, a facility the health secretary acknowledged "nobody would have ever wanted."

Matt Hancock delivered a recorded message for the official opening of the 500-bed Harrogate Convention Centre turned field hospital and said he hopes it is never full.

“But the fact you have been able to make this happen in such a short period of time is a testament to your capabilities, determination and your teamwork. And the most important thing about NHS Nightingale in Harrogate is it is a message to everybody across Yorkshire, across the country, that whatever happens we will strain every sinew to make sure the NHS is there for anyone who needs it."

One of seven of its kind around the country, NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber has been constructed in less than three weeks in a rapid feat of construction and engineering.

Veteran fundraiser Captain Tom Moore thanked the NHS for doing “such a magnificent job” as he opened the hospital as the guest of honour.

The audience at the Harrogate Convention Centre gave Captain Tom, who will turn 100 later this month, a standing ovation as they wished him a happy birthday.

Sitting with his daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, at his home in Bedfordshire, he said: “I’m absolutely in awe of what has happened.

“If you think all the kindness of the people in this country and throughout the world, who have given so much money to the fund to help our National Health Service, which you have got to agree is one of the best services that there is in the world. All the doctors and nurses in the NHS, they do a brilliant job in very difficult conditions and every day they’re putting themselves in harm’s way night and morning."

Asked about his native Yorkshire, Captain Tom said: “I believe that there’s no place better than Yorkshire. There never has been and all the people who are missing coming to Yorkshire, they’re missing an awful lot of marvellous things and people, because the Yorkshire people have a sense of humour and kindness that not many people have, to the extent that we have.”

The audience were asked to stand and applaud as a banner wishing Captain Tom a happy 100th birthday was held up on the stage and the veteran’s number one version of You’ll Never Walk Alone with Michael Ball was played on the screen.

The extra capacity at the Harrogate hospital adds to other Nightingale hospitals being opened in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow.

Steve Russell, chief executive of the new hospital, called the project an “extraordinary achievement” and a “vital insurance policy which we hope will not be needed”.

He also encouraged people to keep following social distancing rules, and added: “Our doctors, nurses, therapists and other health and social care staff across Yorkshire and the Humber are working incredibly hard to make sure people get the care they need during what is the single greatest challenge in the history of the NHS, but they can’t do it alone.”