Coronavirus: Building NHS Nightingale Hospital London

31 March 2020

On 24 March, the government announced it would turn the ExCeL Centre in London's Docklands area into a temporary hospital to cope with patients affected by Covid-19 and work began almost immediately.

Getty Images The front entrance of the NHS Nightingale Hospital

Due to open this week, NHS Nightingale Hospital London will have between 4,000 and 5,000 beds.

Getty Images An ambulance outside the NHS Nightingale Hospital

Getty Images The interior of the NHS Nightingale Hospital under construction

The Ministry of Defence has been helping set up the temporary hospital.

Getty Images Military personnel helping to build the NHS Nightingale Hospital

Dave Jenkins/MOD/Reuters Members of the Queen's Ghurka Engineers Regiment construct cubicles

Different command elements gather inside the Excel Centre to plan the build.

Dave Jenkins/MOD/Reuters Different command elements gather as they plan the build of the hospital

Nearby London City Airport has stopped all commercial flights until further notice and the airfield will be offered to the government "to help with the national effort" against coronavirus.

Getty Images Ambulances seen parked outside the NHS Nightingale Hospital

Thousands of EasyJet and Virgin airline staff are being offered work at the hospital.

Getty Images A worker moves medical equipment outside the NHS Nightingale Hospital

NHS England said many airline staff were first-aid trained and already had security clearance.

The workers would be changing beds, performing other non-clinical tasks and helping doctors and nurses working on the wards, the NHS said.

A model of a patient can be seen being moved on a trolley below.

Getty Images Medical staff move the dummy of a patient on a trolley

Hundreds of St John Ambulance volunteers will also help staff the hospital.

England's chief nursing officer, Ruth May, said: "The NHS is mobilising like never before but the scale of this challenge has not been seen in peacetime, so we need all the support we can get.

"Thousands of nurses, medics and other expert staff are returning to work alongside us but we need everyone to do their bit."

Three more temporary hospitals are to be built, in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, and NHS England said other sites were being considered across the UK.