NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital


The NHS Louisa Jordan is a temporary emergency critical care hospital created to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland. It is located within the SEC Centre in Glasgow.
Operated by NHS Scotland, it was planned to have an initial capacity of 300 beds, and the capability of expanding to accommodate 1000. It became operationally ready on 19 April, and was officially opened via video by Princess Anne on 30 April 2020.

Naming

It is named after Scottish nurse Louisa Jordan, who died in service during the First World War in the Serbian typhus epidemic.
Jordan's family members were grateful for the naming of the hospital. Her great nephew Murray Crone stated: "The members of our family have been very touched by the dedication, as we have been familiar with her story for many years. It is so pleasing that she would be chosen now as a representative of all the volunteers in the Scottish Women’s Hospital during WW1, coping with a Typhus epidemic in Serbia. And, of course, also representing all the present day medical workers doing their utmost at this time, fighting against Covid-19."

Controversy

Controversy initially arose from not using the NHS Nightingale Hospitals naming convention which, at the time of completion, had been used to refer to all COVID-19 relief hospitals in the United Kingdom. This controversy was fuelled by former Labour MP Douglas Alexander criticising the Scottish government.
NHS Wales similarly decided not to use the Nightingale convention and adopted the name Dragon's Heart Hospital for its primary COVID-19 field hospital following a public consultation.