Coronavirus in the UK: NHS Nightingale hospitals to be built in Bristol and Harrogate The announcement follows the development of new hospitals in London, Manchester and Birmingham

NHS Nightingale hospitals will be built in Bristol and Harrogate to provide hundreds of extra beds during the peak of coronavirus.

The announcement follows the development of new hospitals in London, Manchester and Birmingham.

NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens will confirm that sites in the south west of England and Yorkshire – which will have up to 1,500 beds if needed – have joined Manchester and Birmingham as the latest locations for major new facilities outside of London.

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Each will serve the wider regions in which they are located.

Extra capacity

The announcement comes as the first NHS Nightingale hospital, at London’s Excel centre, will be officially opened on Friday.

The new hospital, established in under a fortnight, will be available as soon as patients across London and the south of England need it.

Birmingham and Manchester, offering up to 3,000 beds between them, will open next.

The next will be at the University of the West of England in Bristol, with 1,000 beds, while the one at the Harrogate Convention centre will be able to care for up to 500 people.

Add to ‘surge capacity’

Sir Simon said: “It’s nothing short of extraordinary that this new hospital in London has been established from scratch in less than a fortnight.

“The NHS, working with the military, has done in a matter of days what usually takes years.

“Now we are gearing up to repeat that feat at another four sites across the country to add to the surge capacity in current NHS hospitals.”

Rapid diagnostic machine could be a ‘game-changer’

Meanwhile, coronavirus test results could be ready in just 25 minutes through a method identified by scientists.

A team of academic clinicians from King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust identified the novel method, known as “LAMP”. They say it could help improve patient services in the wider community.

The researchers piloted the test in a south London NHS care home with a Covid-19 outbreak, comparing it to standard tests using the traditional method called PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction).

LAMP, stands for Loop mediated isothermal AMPlification, and has previously been used in tuberculosis and norovirus outbreaks away from centralised large-scale laboratories and without the need for skilled technicians. Dr Claire Steves, from King’s, said: “A cost effective and efficient diagnostic tool would be a game changer in current testing. This is a small real-world study, but we hope it will stimulate more interest and evaluation.”

Scientists at a University of Cambridge spin-off company have also developed a new test that can diagnose Covid-19 in under 90 minutes.

The so-called Samba 2 machines are being deployed at hospitals in the city ahead of a nationwide NHS rollout. One hundred machines are being made available thanks to a £2.4m donation from the businessman and philanthropist, Sir Chris Hohn. Current tests can take 24 hours to deliver results.