COVID-19 hospitals in the United Kingdom  The COVID-19 hospitals in the United Kingdom are temporary hospitals being set up or scheduled for setting up in the United Kingdom and overseas territories as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They principally include the seven NHS England Nightingale Hospitals, NHS Scotland's Louisa Jordan hospital, NHS Wales' Dragon's Heart Hospital, and the Northern Irish Health and Social Care site at Belfast City Hospital, as well as the Florence Nightingale temporary hospital in the Europa Point Sports Complex, Gibraltar. As the 2020 Covid-19 epidemic first took hold in the United Kingdom, its government and the public health services of the home nations started planning the creation of temporary large-scale critical care hospitals to provide cover for the projected increase in patients likely to require this type of treatment. It reflected wider NHS re-structuring to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic and anticipated strain on NHS services   The initiative is being carried out in coordination with the British Armed Forces' COVID Support Force, under the Military Aid to the Civil Authorities provisions, as part of Operation Rescript. The field hospitals are intended to be used treat critical care patients who are regarded as being less severely ill, while the most severely ill patients will be treated in mainstream NHS hospitals. NHS England have created a number of field hospitals named "NHS Nightingale" after the nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale. On 24 March 2020, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in England, Matt Hancock, announced that the first of these temporary hospitals in England would be in the ExCeL London conference centre in the East End of London. It will initially have 500 beds, but has a 4,000 bed capacity across its two wards. It was later revealed that the hospital's name would be the NHS Nightingale Hospital London. A large mortuary is also being constructed on Wanstead Flats, a few miles to the north of the hospital. It has been reported that the hospital will be the largest critical care unit in the world. On 27 March 2020, chief executive of NHS England Sir Simon Stevens announced that a 5,000 capacity Nightingale facility at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre is planned. A temporary mortuary is being constructed near Birmingham airport. Having been ready since 10 April, the hospital was officially opened on 16 April 2020. Stevens also announced on the 27th March that a further 1,000 bed Nightingale provision at Manchester Central Convention Complex will open.