The two buses will be used to ferry patients to NHS Nightingale.
It’s all hands on deck to help the UK cope with the devastating weight of the coronavirus pandemic, with nightclubs offering their services as vaccination centres, and now, London buses being converted into ambulances. Per a report in The Guardian, two London buses have been loaned to the NHS in a bid to help ease the pressure on ambulance services in the capital.
The company who owns the buses, Go-Ahead, has offered them to the NHS, who’ll use them to transport patients to hospitals around the capital. The two single-decker buses have been converted to carry four patients each, with vital medical equipment and oxygen supplies installed in place of seats, and they’ll be staffed by NHS doctors and nurses. Go-Ahead will be providing the drivers, who are understandably well-versed in steering the buses through London traffic. The buses will be easily distinguishable with stickers reading “NHS patient transport”.
The Guardian reports that the buses will begin transporting patients “in the next few days”, and will initially be used to transport patients from London hospitals to NHS Nightingale at the ExCeL Centre. Aside from being one of England’s mass vaccination centres, NHS Nightingale is also being used for recovering Covid patients who need continuing care before they are discharged. Since there are fewer Londoners on the buses at the moment, it’s heartening to see them put to valuable use during the pandemic.