NHS Louisa Jordan hospital to stay open for time being

The NHS Louisa Jordan will continue to provide support for Scotland's health boards, despite the closure of all but two Nightingale hospitals in England.

It was announced on Monday that five of the temporary facilities south of the border would wind down from April.

Only Sunderland and London will remain open to carry out vaccinations.

The Scottish government said the Glasgow site would stay in operation and any announcements on its future would happen at the appropriate time.

The £38m NHS Louisa Jordan at the Scottish Events Campus in Glasgow was built in less than two weeks, opening in April 2020.

It was named after a Glasgow-born nurse who died in Serbia in 1915 during World War One while working in a hospital.

Its purpose was to offer extra capacity to the NHS in dealing with the predicted influx of patients with coronavirus symptoms.

A total of 1,036 bed bays were built and it was initially able to treat 300 patients. However, it was not needed to treat patients with the virus.

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Its role changed in July last year when it became a non-Covid centre for diagnostics.

The hospital will provide up to 1,036 additional beds

The site was used to help restore NHS outpatient services which had paused during the early stages of the pandemic.

Until February this year, it had treated 23,790 outpatients.

It has also been redeployed as a mass vaccination centre, having given more than 60,000 jabs.

A Scottish government spokeswoman said: "NHS Louisa Jordan has been a crucial facility, supporting the NHS through this pandemic with the provision of a non-Covid pathway for urgent outpatient and diagnostic appointments.

"It is currently still being used as an important site and any future plans will be shared at the appropriate time."