Facebook pages set up urging children to send rainbow drawings to the new Nightingale hospital are FAKE, NHS says
- The accounts call for youngsters to post their designs to addresses in the UK
- One claimed that ‘these will be put up on the walls in the Nightingale Hospital’
- NHS Nightingale’s official Twitter page revealed the requests are not legitimate
- It said it appreciated the rainbow pictures but that they should be shared online
Facebook page urging children to send rainbow drawings to cover the walls of the new NHS Nightingale Hospital in London are fake, the NHS has warned.
The accounts call for youngsters to post their designs to addresses across the country and said they would send them on to the ExCeL centre.
One claimed: ‘These will be put up on the walls in the Nightingale Hospital to brighten the place up.’
But NHS Nightingale’s official Twitter page revealed the requests are not legitimate and asked the public not to send any via post.
The accounts call for youngsters to post their designs to nine addresses across the country and said they would send them on to the ExCeL centre (pictured)
One claimed: ‘These will be put up on the walls in the Nightingale Hospital to brighten the place up’
It wrote: ‘Unfortunately, a fake Facebook account has been set up for the Nightingale Hospital London asking people to share rainbow pictures.
‘Please be aware of misinformation and only get your information from trusted sources.’
It added: ‘We love that so many of you have shared your amazing rainbow pictures, but please don’t send them in the post.
‘We’re working on a way to receive them, but for now please share using #RainbowsForNightingale.’
NHS Nightingale’s official Twitter page revealed the request was not legitimate and asked the public not to send any via post
Built in around ten days, NHS Nightingale will have 500 beds for Covid-19 patients when it opens this week. The number of beds will eventually increase to 4,000.
Similar hospitals are being installed in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow to ease pressure on existing sites.
Soldiers helping to build the site at London’s Docklands have compared the coronavirus crisis to the Battle of the Somme.
Colonel Ashleigh Boreham, who has carried out two tours of Iraq and one of Afghanistan, said it was the biggest mission of his career.
Members of the Queen’s Gurkha Engineer Regiment, 36 Engineer Regiment as they help build Nightingale Hospital
Up to 200 soldiers a day have been helping in the construction of the Docklands hospital. They are carrying out medical planning, logistics, engineering and tasks such as building beds, laying floors, and carrying out electrics and plumbing (pictured on Tuesday)
Colonel Ashleigh Boreham (left), who has carried out two tours of Iraq and one of Afghanistan, said transforming the conference centre into a hospital was the biggest mission of his career (right, medical equipment is labelled and prepared for use by NHS staff at the ExCel centre in London which is being made into a temporary hospital)
The soldier, who has helped create field hospitals around the world, said: ‘We are building a hospital for people in our nation.
‘You are saving people’s lives and they could be the lives of your families. It’s the biggest job I’ve ever done.
‘My grandfather was at the Somme, this is no different. I’m just at a different battle. I’m from London, I have friends and family in London.
‘Many of the people working here, many of the soldiers working here, are from London.
‘We are doing this to save the lives of Londoners. These are our comrades, there’s no difference. It doesn’t matter if they are civilian or military.’