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HCA Healthcare UK and NHS join forces to fight COVID-19

A group of nurses wearing face masks
HCA Healthcare UK colleagues on the front lines of COVID-19.

Uniting across healthcare has never been more important for patients. During the global COVID-19 pandemic, HCA Healthcare UK is providing care to National Health Service (NHS) patients whose care and clinical needs are considered time-critical. Read more about the unprecedented partnership below…

A global pandemic requires a global response. In addition to our 180+ hospitals in the United States, HCA Healthcare is also a leading private hospital system in the United Kingdom (U.K.).

HCA Healthcare UK – comprised of six award-winning private hospitals, three partnership hospitals with National Health Service (NHS) teaching hospitals, as well as specialist clinics, outpatient and diagnostics centers, and private general practitioner services – is spread across London and Manchester. The private hospital sector in the United Kingdom operates separately of the NHS, but are able to partner on key medical issues.

The ability to team up with other health systems is a key component of the U.K.’s response to coronavirus. In an effort to take on work that the NHS is too overwhelmed to carry out, over the next three months, HCA Healthcare UK and other private sector providers are partnering with the NHS to make our capacity and resources available to them. This is a huge shift in our business model and a major contribution to the U.K. healthcare system.

Did you know?

Uniting across healthcare has never been more important for patients. During the global COVID-19 pandemic, HCA Healthcare UK is providing care to National Health Service (NHS) patients whose care and clinical needs are considered time-critical.

A group of hospital caregivers wearing personal protective equipment
Two female nurses wearing face masks and bumping elbows

Using resources to bring relief

HCA Healthcare’s capacity in the UK will be used to treat time-critical patients whose treatment or procedures cannot be delayed, support diagnostics of potentially urgent patient conditions and support the step-down care of patients as they recover from COVID-19. This is all to relieve pressure on the NHS to enable them to focus on the treatment of coronavirus patients.

Thanks to HCA Healthcare and other private hospitals, the NHS now has access to 8,000 more hospital beds, nearly 1,200 more ventilators, more than 10,000 nurses, over 700 doctors and over 8,000 other clinical staff.

“We are treating NHS patients in our hospitals, and we have asked HCA Healthcare UK colleagues, both clinical and non-clinical where they have the capacity, to volunteer to work at NHS Nightingale Hospital,” adds Reay. “We are deeply honored to have this opportunity to be part of the national response to the coronavirus pandemic.”

A group of hospital caregivers wearing face masks and scrubs
HCA Healthcare UK caregivers team up with the National Health Service (NHS) in the fight against COVID-19.

NHS has expressed gratitude to the private hospitals for their assistance.

We’re dealing with an unprecedented global health threat and are taking immediate and exceptional action to gear up,” said Sir Simon Stevens, NHS chief executive. “The NHS is doing everything in its power to expand treatment capacity, and is working with partners right across the country to do so.”

“But it is absolutely vital that this is matched by successful and comprehensive adoption of the public measures needed to cut the spread of the virus,” adds Stevens. “We all have to play our part to help offset the enormous pressure that our nurses, doctors and other specialists will otherwise face.”

Regardless of the country we operate in, regardless of the structure of the healthcare system in those nations, HCA Healthcare stands ready to help patients in need.

A nurse wearing personal protective equipment
A nurse wearing personal protective equipment

About HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare, one of the nation's leading providers of healthcare services, is comprised of 183 hospitals and more than 2,300 sites of care, in 20 states and the United Kingdom. Our more than 283,000 colleagues are connected by a single purpose — to give patients healthier tomorrows.

As an enterprise, we recognize the significant responsibility we have as a leading healthcare provider within each of the communities we serve, as well as the opportunity we have to improve the lives of the patients for whom we are entrusted to care. Through the compassion, knowledge and skill of our caregivers, and our ability to leverage our scale and innovative capabilities, HCA Healthcare is in a unique position to play a leading role in the transformation of care.

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