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Editorial: It’s easier to produce thousands of extra beds for temporary hospitals than it is to muster the qualified nursing staff to look after all the patients who are expected to occupy them

Staff prepare to load equipment at the ExCeL London exhibition centre that is being transformed into the NHS Nightingale Hospital (AFP/Getty)

The National Health Service is approaching some of the most critical weeks in its history. As Shaun Lintern, our health correspondent, reports today, there are fears that the NHS will soon need more intensive care nurses than it actually has.

The sight of huge temporary hospitals being constructed is reassuring, but it is easier to produce thousands of extra beds than it is to muster the qualified nursing staff to look after all the patients who are expected soon to occupy them.

As we report, 33,000 extra beds have been conjured out of old NHS facilities and new conference centres, and staff numbers have been boosted by returners, St John Ambulance volunteers and non-nursing staff such as care assistants, therapists and pharmacists.