Covid Scotland: NHS Louisa Jordan decommissioning will cost up to £7 million

The cost of dismantling the NHS Louisa Jordan could reach more than £7 million, new figures have revealed.

The emergency Covid-19 field hospital was dismantled at the end of March, having never been used as an overspill facility.

It cost £56 million to build and run for just under a year.

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Contracts of £4.59m were awarded to Balfour Beatty, John Graham Construction, Keir Construction and RFM Health to begin deconstruction work in April.

The main concourse area is cleaned at the decommissioning of the NHS Louisa Jordan hospital at the SEC, Glasgow.  Picture date: Thursday April 8, 2021.The main concourse area is cleaned at the decommissioning of the NHS Louisa Jordan hospital at the SEC, Glasgow.  Picture date: Thursday April 8, 2021.
The main concourse area is cleaned at the decommissioning of the NHS Louisa Jordan hospital at the SEC, Glasgow. Picture date: Thursday April 8, 2021.

But the total cost of its decommission is expected to rise to more than £7m, the Herald reports.

NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), which is responsible for the Louisa Jordan, said its total decommissioning budget is £7.1m.

This covers everything needed to convert the site back to its permanent use as the Scottish Event Campus, including the dismantling of infrastructure and the removal of equipment.

A spokesperson for the Louisa Jordan said: “Thanks to the public’s continued efforts to reduce the spread of the virus, the NHS Louisa Jordan was not required to treat Covid inpatients. Since July 2020 the hospital has played a crucial role in supporting the remobilisation of NHS Scotland.”

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Watch: NHS Louisa Jordan decommissioned after treating no Covid-19 patients

More than £4m of equipment from the hospital has been distributed elsewhere, including beds, patient furniture, drip stands, resuscitation trolleys, thermometers and X-ray accessories.

The Western Isles, Forth Valley, Fife, Lanarkshire, Glasgow and Tayside health boards have received equipment, and more is earmarked for NHS Highland.

Some 500 bed bays from the hospital have been kept in case there is a need for another emergency field hospital in future, along with other equipment and plans for delivery and operation.

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The Louisa Jordan was built in a matter of weeks in April last year as an overspill facility for Covid patients.

Having never treated any patients for the virus, it was put into use for non-Covid patients from July.

In the following months it hosted more than 32,000 outpatient and diagnostic appointments and trained more than 6,900 healthcare staff and students.

The site was used as a vaccination centre from February, with more than 175,000 vaccines delivered. This centre has now been moved to the SSE Hydro.

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