Inside a dismantled Nightingale hospital NHS England insist it is still 'on standby'

Health chiefs have insisted London's Nightingale hospital is on standby for coronavirus patients despite the removal of some of its equipment.

As of 8am on Monday, there were 20,426 patients being treated for the virus in hospital across England compared to 18,974 during the previous peak of the virus in April.

While patients in a coronavirus hotspot are reportedly being treated in ambulances as a surge in infections has massive queues for beds.

Images taken outside the Queen's Hospital in Romford, London, show medics in PPE interacting with patients and paramedics in ambulance parking bays.

NHS England has said the facility at the ExCel Centre would be available to support the hospitals in the capital if needed, BBC News reports.

This is even though some of the hospital's equipment, including beds and ventilators, are no longer there.

Gloomy pictures taken inside the facility are a stark contrast from a hospital that is ready to accept critically ill patients.

They include sobering images of empty rooms including one which is filled with dismantled boards stored in piles.

Another picture is of a discarded sign for the hospital which has either fallen or has been taken down and is leant against an exterior wall near an entrance to the hospital.

The hospital, which was a former exhibition space, was built earlier this year as part of the UK's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The site in east London was opened by Prince William on April 3 and boasted enough space for 4,000 beds to treat Covid-19 patients.

But the following month it was placed on standby when fewer than 20 patients were admitted there.

NHS England sent a letter to hospital trusts on December 23 which reminded them to plan for the use of additional facilities such as the Nightingale hospitals.

A spokesperson for the NHS said: "The Nightingale in London remains on standby and will be available to support the capital's hospitals if needed.

"In the meantime it is vital that Londoners do everything possible to reduce transmission and cut the number of new infections which otherwise inevitably result in more avoidable deaths."

However concerns have been raised about the NHS's ability to staff Nightingale hospitals.

Dr Nick Scriven, the former president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: "It is not 'just the case' of using the Nightingale hospital as there are simply no staff for them to run as they were originally intended.

"They could play a role perhaps if used as rehabilitation units for those recovering but, again, where do we find the specialist staff - the NHS simply does not have the capacity to spare anyone."

Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow health secretary, said the facilities had been opened "at great expense and fanfare" but failures led to the hospital being short-staffed.

The Labour MP tweeted: "But the reality is years of Tory failures to invest in training and staffing has left NHS short of staff needed."

Chris Hopson of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, has defended the decision to build the hospitals saying they could 'still have a role' in treating coronavirus patients even with some equipment missing.

Mr Hopson added that the NHS would use "every ounce" of existing capacity before the Nightingales were used routinely.

Other Nightingale hospitals are located in Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, Harrogate, Manchester and Sunderland.

The news comes as the UK recorded 53,135 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours - the highest daily number since the pandemic began.