Poster to remind staff to identify themselves by writing their name on their PPE

A3 sign saying "hello my name is….Please use the sharpie pens to write your name and role on the front of your gown Thank you" displaying in the donning sections of the NHS Nightingale Hospital London, to remind staff to identify themselves as wearing full PPE made identification difficult, unknown maker, 2020

Displayed in the staff areas of the NHS Nightingale London, this sign encouraged staff to write their name on their visor as it can be difficult to recognise people through the layers of Personal Protective Equipment. PPE includes face and sometimes including eye protection, gloves, gown or coverall and apron. Each item was put in a buddy system and in sequence, known as donning, and removed, known as doffing. Staff for the Nightingale London was drawn from across NHS England and the armed services and in some cases, people had never worked together before.

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 COVID-19. 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. Volunteers from St John Ambulance and air crew from Virgin Atlantic and Easyjet helped with way finding and assisting staff.

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.