US healthcare giant lets staff volunteer at Nightingale Hospital in London amid coronavirus crisis

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A US healthcare giant has given the green light to its doctors and nurses to volunteer to work saving lives at London’s new Nightingale Hospital.

HCA, whose London hospitals include the Portland where the Duchess of Sussex gave birth, will pay the salaries of any of its more than 1,600 medics who put their names forward for jobs at the Nightingale.

It will also allow other staff to help out while staying on full pay in a move intended to help the NHS cope with the unprecedented challenge of tackling the coronavirus crisis.

The offer of help follows an appeal by the NHS for volunteers to work at the new Docklands hospital – which has been built in less than a fortnight for Covid 19 patients – and was communicated in an email sent to his staff by John Reay, the chief executive of HCA Healthcare UK.

In it, Mr Reay says that there is an “immediate need .. for HCA UK colleagues, both clinical and non-clinical, to volunteer to work at NHS Nightingale Hospital”.

Mr Reay adds: “I know your expertise is much needed for the hospital and I hope you will now volunteer to help. Thank you in advance to those of you that step forward.”

His email, which was accompanied by a separate email to managers urging them to encourage staff to volunteer, makes clear that those who go to help at the Nightingale will remain HCA employees and continue to receive their normal pay. That is intended to remove any deterrent to volunteering.

Announcing the move formally today, Mr Reay said there had already been a “great response” and added: "Uniting across the healthcare sector has never been more important, and I am proud that we, and indeed the whole independent sector, are able to support the NHS by providing vital resource, equipment and expertise.

"We are treating NHS patients in our hospitals, and we have asked HCA UK colleagues, both clinical and non-clinical where they have the capacity, to volunteer to work at NHS Nightingale Hospital. We are deeply honoured to have this opportunity to be part of the national response to the coronavirus pandemic.”

HCA Healthcare UK, which is part of the US healthcare giant, Hospital Corporation of America, runs six private hospitals in London.

It has also provided 22 ventilators so far to the NHS after being told that each will save 20 lives and provided beds in its hospitals for NHS patients to ease the pressure on health service.

Its hospitals include the Portland, where the Duchess of Sussex, Victoria Beckham, Liz Hurley and the Duchess of York have all given birth, and the Wellington Hospital, which is the largest private hospital in Britain.

It also runs the London Bridge Hospital, the Harley Street Clinic, the Princess Grace and Lister hospitals and provides further private care in partnership schemes at four NHS hospitals nationwide, including UCLH and Guy’s and ST Thomas’s in London. The number of HCA staff who will be deployed at the Nightingale will be decided over the coming days in conjunction with NHS bosses.

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