A Nightingale 'surge hub' erected at William Harvey Hospital at a cost of around £3 million looks unlikely to be used to treat Covid patients.

The facility was set up in the car park of the Ashford hospital in anticipation of a sudden rise in the number of people being admitted during the Omicron wave over Christmas and New Year.

But East Kent Hospitals Trust (EKHT) has now been told the ward, with capacity for almost 100 patients, is now unlikely to be required as the programme has been moved into a 'slow down' phase.

Reporting to a meeting of the Trust's board of directors last week, EKHT chairman Niall Dickson said: "It has been a remarkable feat to create something of this size and complexity and would like to express my thanks to everyone involved, including our senior managers and clinical staff for putting this facility in place so quickly when faced with so many other competing demands on their time.

"I recognise that this has also created additional problems for parking at the hospital for both patients and staff. At the time of writing this report we are still considering whether and how the building could be used.

"Fortunately, while we continue to face huge demand, the number of Covid patients has been falling so this surge does appear to be abating."

Papers put before the board on Thursday, February 3, acknowledged that even if the ward had been required, issues with building regulations, IT in the building and a lack of staff could have hampered its deployment.

While the facility may never be used for its intended purpose, its presence has caused disruption to the operation of the hospital, with staff being shuttled to and from the Julie Rose Stadium on minibuses amid a shortage of parking spaces at the Kennington Road site.

Damian Green, MP for Ashford, said: "I take the view it's an insurance policy, and at the time the decision was taken to build these hubs it was a sensible precaution.

"I hope that if it is going to be left there for a long time we can find a use for it, clearly everyone is concerned about backlogs.

"If there's a way a large building like that, which has potential for being used for medical treatment, is there then we should use it."