Louisa Jordan: temporary coronavirus hospital in Glasgow to be closed

The hospital was the site of 175,000 vaccinations
NHS Louisa Jordan is set to be closed (Getty Images)NHS Louisa Jordan is set to be closed (Getty Images)
NHS Louisa Jordan is set to be closed (Getty Images)

The NHS Louisa Jordan is set to close on Thursday, with the vaccination centre being moved to the Hydro next week.

Since July 2020, the hospital has played a critical role in the fight against Covid-19.

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The hospital has carried out more than 32,000 healthcare appointments, training over 6,900 healthcare staff and students and vaccinating about 175,000 people.

Wednesday will be the last day of outpatient and diagnostic appointments, all training and blood donations.

Vaccinations will continue until April 3 at the current site, and move to the Hydro location within the Scottish Events Campus from April 6.

Once relocated to the SSE Hydro, the NHS Louisa Jordan vaccination centre will continue, in partnership with other NHS Boards, to run daily clinics for members of the public to receive their Covid-19 vaccination with the ability to administer up to 10,000 vaccinations per day.

‘A huge impact’

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Jill Young, chief executive of NHS Louisa Jordan, said: “Thanks to the continued efforts of the public, NHS Louisa Jordan was not needed to treat Covid inpatients. However, it has made a huge impact as part of NHS recovery and remobilisation of our health system.

“Without NHS Louisa Jordan, thousands of people would not have had outpatient and diagnostic appointments, important research and training would not have been carried out, and as one of the largest vaccinations centres in the UK we have clearly played a vitally important role to protect our NHS and save lives.

“NHS Louisa Jordan has been a true collaboration from inception to decommission. I want to thank everyone who has supported the establishment and running of NHS Louisa Jordan over the last year and vaccinations going forward.”

Equipment from NHS Louisa Jordan, such as CT scanners, will be repurposed and transferred for use in other NHS facilities, helping to ensure the facility brings further benefits to patients across Scotland.

How much did the NHS Louisa Jordan cost to run?

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The NHS Louisa Jordan was officially opened on April 30 after being constructed in a matter of weeks in the Scottish Events Campus (SEC) Glasgow.

It was built to provide extra space for Covid-19 patients, with initial capacity for 300 patients and a total of 1036 bed bays, but it was not used for this purpose during the first wave.

Its construction cost just under £31 million, with an estimated £2.3 million monthly running cost.

The hospital began to accept non-Covid outpatients in July, and since then has treated 4,000 patients, with diagnostics including x-rays, CT scans and ultrasounds, as well as dermatology treatment and orthopaedics.

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Advanced Practice physiotherapists at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have used the space to see orthopaedic outpatients, while the Oral Medical Team have also held clinics.

Some plastic surgery, orthopaedics and dermatology clinic appointments at NHS Ayrshire and Arran are now taking place at NHS Louisa Jordan in order to help clear the backlog created by the pandemic.

More than 1,000 medical students have used the hospital as a training facility, including student doctors, dentists and nurses.

This includes students from Glasgow University and Glasgow Clyde College, whose Healthcare Practice Students have used the training area to practise skills including taking patient temperatures, checking heart rates, monitoring blood pressure, tending to wound dressings and moving patients safely.

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Some training has taken place in person at the NHS Louisa Jordan, making use of the space for social distancing.

There have also been some blended elements with activities at the hospital being broadcast to students watching via videolink. The hospital was named after Glaswegian nurse Louisa Jordan who died in service during WWI.