Laminated poster 'Clinical roles' at NHS Nightingale Hospital London, showing the colour coding system used to identify staff roles printed with ICU consultant = two red stripes, Airway doctor = one red strip, Doctor = one green stripe, Matron/Charge nurse = two yellow stripes, Critical Care nurse = 1 stripe, RN/Nurse = one white stripe, Operating Department Practitioner = one orange stripe, handwritten with Pharmacy = a cross of yellow and green, Physiotherapist = one blue stripe, BLC = one grey stripe, version 2.0, printed 20 April 2020

At the time of the first wave of coronavirus, Personal Protective Equipment was one of the few ways healthcare workers could protect themselves from COVID-19. To help identify each other at the NHS Nightingale Hospital London, staff would write their names on their gowns or by using different colours of gaffer tape on their shoulder to indicate their role. These included Intensive Care Consultant, Airway Doctor, Doctor, Matron or Charge Nurse, Critical Care Nurse, Registered Nurse, Pharmacy, Operating Department Practitioner (ODPs), Physiotherapist and Bedside Learning Co-ordinators.

As many operations were cancelled, ODPs were redeployed to help care for the growing numbers of people with coronavirus who needed hospital care. Bedside Learning Co-ordinators were introduced at the NHS Nightingale Hospital London to help gain staff feedback to improve patient care, workplace efficiency and staff well-being. Since then, BLCs have been introduced at several NHS Trusts.

The NHS Nightingale Hospital at the ExCel Centre in London was the first of seven Nightingale hospitals to be opened. Extra beds were planned after concerns over the ability of the National Health Service to cope with high numbers of people requiring treatment during the first wave of coronavirus. Drawing on the expertise of creating military field hospitals, NHS Nightingale London, the size of ten football pitches, was fitted out in just nine days. Opened virtually by Prince Charles on 3 April 2020, the hospital had capacity for 4000 beds in wards named after historic figures from British medical history.

Only a small proportion of beds were ever used as NHS Trusts could not release staff. Existing hospitals transformed spaces into critical care wards. The NHS Nightingale London Hospital closed on Nurses Day on 12 May 2020 with 700 people debriefed at the 02. In January 2021, it reopened to treat non-coronavirus patients after being on standby since May 2020. Between 11 January 2021 and 25 June 2021, it was a mass vaccination centre, delivering 130,000 jabs. For both uses it was overseen by Barts Health Trust. Described by the NHS as the “ultimate insurance policy”, some questioned the £500 million cost of building and maintaining the seven sites.