Covid in Scotland: NHS Louisa Jordan to close at end of March

The NHS Louisa Jordan temporary hospital in Glasgow is to close at the end of March.

The £38m hospital at the Scottish Event Campus was built in just two weeks early in the pandemic amid fears the NHS could be overwhelmed.

Its main role, however, has been in the delivery of vaccinations to about 175,000 people and as a base for outpatient appointments.

The nearby SSE Hydro will take over its role as a mass vaccination centre.

Staff based as NHS Louisa Jordan will return to their health boards or the vaccination programme.

The building itself will revert to being an events and conference centre, and is due to play a key role in the COP26 climate change conference later this year.

Named after a Scottish nurse who died in Serbia during World War One, NHS Louisa Jordan was one of a number of facilities established across the UK to meet the challenge of Covid.

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

Last July it became a non-Covid centre for diagnostics as outpatient services restarted, and more recently for vaccinations.

'Light at the end of the tunnel'

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said it had been used to treat more than 32,000 patients, train more than 6,900 healthcare staff and students, and since December to deliver 175,000 vaccines.

"I want to repeat my thanks to all of our NHS staff working to protect and treat those of us who need it and to everyone who is complying with the necessary restrictions in place," she said.

"It is because of that continued support that we are able to move forward and see light at the end of the tunnel."

There are currently just over 400 patients in Scottish hospitals with recently-confirmed Covid, down from a peak of more than 2,000 in January.

The winding down of five such temporary facilities in England, where they were known as Nightingale hospitals, was announced earlier this month., with only Sunderland and London remaining open for vaccinations.