Temporary hospital NHS Louisa Jordan to close at end of March

The NHS Louisa Jordan emergency hospital in Glasgow will close at the end of March. 

The temporary facility at the Scottish Event Campus was set up to support Scotland's response to the coronavirus pandemic, with construction completed in April of last year.

In the end, the hospital named after a First World War nurse was not required for treating COVID-19 patients, but the Scottish Government said it played a "crucial role" in the remobilisation of the NHS from July. 

It was used to deliver the vaccination programme, but this will now resume at the SSE Hydro next door. Staff will either support the programme there or return to their own health boards.

Meanwhile, the SEC will be returned to a working events and conference centre, as it prepares to host COP26 in November. 

By 31 March, staff at the hospital will have carried out more than 32,000 outpatient and diagnostic appointments, trained over 6,900 healthcare staff and students and vaccinated approximately 175,000 people across the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.

Once relocated to the Hydro, the centre will continue to run daily clinics with the ability to administer a minimum of 4,000 vaccinations each day, with capacity to scale up to 10,000.

Health secretary Jeane Freeman said: "We said from the start that this facility has a vital part of our COVID-19 contingency planning, but we hoped it would not be needed to treat COVID patients. 

"Thanks to the continued efforts of the public, we have been able to maintain capacity in our hospitals across the country and use this facility to remobilise health services and treat patients whose healthcare had to be cancelled last year due to COVID.

"As we work our way through the JCVI vaccination priority list and begin to vaccinate more people across the country, we have secured use of the Hydro, located in the Scottish Event Campus, to ensure we can continue to vaccinate people as quickly as supplies allow.

"I want to repeat my thanks to all of our NHS staff working to protect and treat those of us who need it and to everyone who is complying with the necessary restrictions in place. 

“It is because of that continued support that we are able to move forward and see light at the end of the tunnel.”