18 May 2020updated 06 Oct 2020 9:45am

Just one Nightingale Hospital treating patients

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 30: Soldiers and private contractors help to prepare the ExCel centre which is being made into the temporary NHS Nightingale hospital, comprising of two wards, each of 2,000 people, to help tackle coronavirus on March 30, 2020 in London, England. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to many countries across the world, claiming over 30,000 lives and infecting hundreds of thousands more. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The Birmingham Nightingale Hospital has been put on standby. In the last three weeks it has not treated a single patient, and it now joins others in London, Harrogate, Bristol and Sunderland on the waiting list. Only Manchester Nightingale is currently treating patients.

The surprising development has been attributed to both the falling infection rate in London and Birmingham, and an expansion of intensive care beds in existing NHS hospitals. The hospitals will remain on standby in case of a second wave, according to a statement issued by the government when the Nightingale Hospital in Northern Ireland closed last week.

The London Nightingale is estimated to have treated a total of 50 patients, with the Belfast hospital treating 30. The Government has been criticised for “overreacting” in response to events in Italy, where intensive care units were overwhelmed.