Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the potential bed capacity at each of the NHS Nightingale hospitals; and what is the expected timetable for bringing them into use in the near future.

The overall capacity of Nightingale hospitals is not fixed and can be scaled according to requirement. As part of their comprehensive activation plans, each Nightingale team has developed a clinical model that can be scaled up as and when additional capacity is required in the region. This ensures that the right skill mix of staff will be available from National Health Service trusts in the region and via NHS Professionals and through direct recruitment if required.