Preston's Nightingale Surge Hub closes it's doors
The facility was set up in January and provided a lifeline for stretched NHS services
Staff at Royal Preston Hospital are saying goodbye to their Nightingale Surge Hub as it closes its doors to patients. The facility was one of eight to be commissioned nationwide last year as the first Omicron wave swept across the nation.
Whilst Omicron rates were high in Lancashire the hospital dealt with it's Covid-positive patients within the main hospital and the Nightingale was never used for it's primary function - a surge hub in the event the number of cases gets out of hand.
In February this year, the trust decided to use the unit to treat patients who hadn't tested positive and who were no longer in need of acute care.
The centre was the only one of it's kind in the North West and was designed to support the entire region should cases of omicron rise rapidly.
A week of deep cleaning will now take place, then there will be a two week demolition phase before the hospital can reclaim it's car park.
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