500 bed bays from Louisa Jordan kept for future emergency hospital

Equipment and infrastructure from the Louisa Jordan has been stored by NHS Scotland in case of a need for future emergency hospitals.

The hospital, which cost £56 million to build and run, was constructed in a matter of weeks in April 2020 to care for up to 1,000 patients.

It was never needed as emergency Covid-19 capacity and has now been decommissioned.

Most of its equipment has been delivered to other NHS sites, but some has been retained in case of a need for another emergency hospital to be built in Scotland in the future.

NHS Louisa Jordan being decommissioned in April. Picture: John Devlin

National Services Scotland, responsible for the hospital, said a “vital element” of the programme was ensuring plans and resources were there for future contingencies.

500 bed bays will be kept along with supplementary infrastructure equipment and a comprehensive delivery and operational manual.

Other equipment has been re-distributed around Scotland, including to Covid testing laboratories, and to support a range of services in the Western Isles, Forth Valley, Fife, Lanarkshire, Glasgow and Tayside.

Resources have also been used to help NHS Lothian in its Covid vaccination rollout, and for heart failure services in Glasgow and Clyde.

The vaccination centre has been transferred to the SSE Hydro in Glasgow.

In total, £1 million of equipment has been distributed, including beds, patient furniture, drip stands, resuscitation trolleys, thermometers and X-ray accessories.

More equipment is also earmarked for NHS Highland for the new facilities at Skye, Aviemore, and the new National Treatment Centre in Inverness.

Jill Young, Chief Executive of NHS Louisa Jordan said: “Up until March 2021, NHS Louisa Jordan has been supporting the remobilisation of NHSScotland services by carrying out much needed outpatient and diagnostic appointments, training and research.

“Now we will also be providing equipment to existing, redesigned and new health facilities across the whole of Scotland. The impact and benefit to patient care is immeasurable and is a legacy that will go far beyond those who have been seen or vaccinated at the SEC in Glasgow.”

The Louisa Jordan was put into use for non-Covid patients from July, and has since hosted more than 32,000 outpatient and diagnostic appointments, trained over 6,900 healthcare staff and students, and 175,000 Covid-19 vaccinations.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.