IT channel joins efforts to get NHS Nightingale up and running

Tech Data and Ultima among those to have supplied PCs and mission-critical IT to new makeshift critical care unit, which opens today

The channel has been playing its part in getting NHS Nightingale up and running ahead of its scheduled opening today.

The new temporary hospital based in the ExCel exhibition centre has been constructed in just nine days, and will have space for 4,000 beds.

Ahead of its official opening by Prince Charles today, tech suppliers have been taking to social media to share their efforts to ensure the site is fit for purpose.

Tech Data, for instance, has supplied 6,000 PCs to the makeshift hospital, while Ultima Business Solutions - in partnership with N2S -has also delivered mission-critical IT to the site.

The efforts come following pleas to credit insurers to refrain from any blanket reductions in credit limits in the IT channel due to its critical role supplying not only emergency services but also enabling remote working.

Indeed, IT, data infrastructure and telecoms have been deemed critical sectors by the government.

NHS Nightingale is being created to meet "additional surge capacity" for London during the COVID-19 crisis. At capacity it will comprise 80 wards and employ 16,000 health workers, making it the world's largest critical care unit.

"The size of this challenge has not been seen in peace time and its implementation can and will save lives," the hospital said.