Andy Mitchell
DHSC P22 NHS Nightingale Hospital Implementation Lead

NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham
NHS Nightingale Hospital North West
NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and the Humber
NHS Nightingale Hospital Bristol

Well, what a Spring that turned out to be!

It all started on a quiet afternoon in March with a call from an NHSI colleague suggesting they may need some assistance and would P22 be able to help? 

The need for support was confirmed on the evening of Friday 27th March when it started to look likely that without urgent intervention, there was a real possibility that the spread of the COVID-19 Virus could overwhelm the NHS, and 17 days later, the first phase was delivered – an achievement never thought possible, which we should all be proud of.

Principal Supply Chain Partner (PSCP) colleagues were contacted late on that Friday evening and were on site assessing the implications for the chosen sites, over the weekend of the 28th/29th March. Teams at Birmingham and Manchester (the first P22 NHS Nightingale Hospitals authorised to proceed) were mobilised and on-site on Monday 30th March, with the other sites following shortly afterwards. It was a straightforward plan, ‘convert those event spaces into field hospitals capable of managing ventilated patients.

On Monday 30th March, having considered the magnitude of what we faced, a more formal P22 Project Management Office was set-up and the P22 PMO was born. Providing structure to the process, the P22 PMO was run by and reported into P22, with involvement of all 6 PSCPs in an astoundingly collaborative manner. Task teams were initiated for Procurement; Contracts and Commercial; Design; Logistics and Disposal; Decommissioning; and Marketing. Coordination through the central PMO was acknowledged by all as key to successful delivery, and standardisation supported a faster and more streamlined development.

Colleagues from all 6 PSCPs contributed (and still contribute as NHS Nightingale Hospital Exeter is in development) with a level of sharing and collaboration which was great to experience, even exceeding what was already at an industry-leading level within the P22 framework.

Download: ProCure22 Nightingale Hospitals infographics booklet

You will see from the infographic, the number of people involved and the scale of the ask, which was immense. We must thank not only those involved who worked tirelessly over long-days with little down time, but also their families without who’s support this achievement would not have been possible.

There will be a P22 NHS Nightingale Hospital Case Study available on this site shortly.