Exeter’s Nightingale hospital is to be set up in a vacant retail unit in Sowton instead of at Westpoint.
The NHS has announced that it will be located in the former Homebase store, explaining that ‘lower than expected COVID-19 transmission rates in the south west, combined with updated modelling of care needs, also shows that a smaller site would be a better use of resources, and enable the NHS in the south west to use the site for a longer period of time if needed.’
Conversion of the former Homebase store to a fully functioning hospital will begin over the next few days, and it is due to open in late May, treating patients from Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset.
The Army is helping with logistics for the build, working alongside contractors BAM Construct Ltd, who also built the NHS Nightingale Hospital in Harrogate.
The NHS has thanked the charity that runs Westpoint for its ‘help, hard work, and kindness in welcoming us over the last ten days as we considered our decision’.
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