Trust buys Nightingale hospital to help tackle elective backlog

Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust, which was the “host trust” for the Exeter Nightingale, completed the purchase of the site earlier this year, it has emerged.

The six other Nightingale temporary hospitals built across England were closed in the spring, having seen relatively few patients through the pandemic, but the Devon site has continued to be used, mostly for carrying out diagnostic tests.

The Exeter Nightingale, which was set up on an industrial estate outside the city, treated nearly 250 patients from three counties in the winter and has provided more than 6,000 diagnostics tests. It cost more than £11m to build the hospital, which was funded by the government via NHS England. 

Neither the trust or NHS England/Improvement would say how much purchasing the site of the Nightingale cost, or what funds were used. HSJ understands the purchase was supported by Devon’s other NHS trusts and the NHS centrally. RD&E’s board papers stated the decision was taken after health chiefs concluded that buying the site “offered best value for money”.

The facility will be used for several types of elective care as the NHS grapples with an increasing backlog of patients. They include diagnostics and orthopaedic, ophthalmology and rheumatology procedures.

Devon is the worst performing integrated care system in the South West for the number of patients waiting longer than a year for treatment. As of April, there were 11,765 patients waiting longer than a year in the ICS, compared to 5,750 in the second-worst (Dorset).

It was also the worst performing ICS in the region against the NHS’ cancer targets. In May, the ICS was chosen as an “accelerator site” by NHS England which saw it receive a share of £160m to come up with new ways of increasing activity.

Devon ICS will be spending some of this money on leasing two modular operating theatres at the Nightingale to increase orthopaedic capacity.

In addition to treating inpatients, the hospital has also hosted overseas nurse training for three trusts and supported two vaccination studies.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said it had been an “invaluable resource” for the south west NHS.