NHS writes off £13m for Nightingale field hospital beds 'which couldn't be used in other hospitals'

The Sunday Times said the loss, revealed in NHS England’s annual accounts, included storage costs and relates to emergency beds used in the seven field hospitals which opened at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Notes to the accounts said the "bespoke beds" couldn’t be used in existing hospitals after the Nightingales closed “as the specifications were not to the current standard as implemented in all hospitals”.

The 500-bed hospital at Harrogate Convention Centre, which opened in April 2020, didn’t treat a single Covid-19 patient. It was dismantled almost a year later at a total cost of £31.6m.

Overall the cost to the taxpayer of the seven hospitals is expected to be over £530 million.

Last month councillors said the public’s perception of the Nightingales was that they were a “major waste of money”.

However, NHS officials have argued that had the hospitals not been built and it subsequently turned out they were needed, the consequences would have been “unthinkable”.

Many believe the facilities were underused because of a lack of staff.

NHS England said beds could be hired, rather than purchased, and some were being used in hospitals.

A spokesperson said: “The Nightingales were created to provide additional capacity in case this was needed through the pandemic, this included securing beds that were appropriate for patient use, with local areas using these as needed.”