The main car park at the William Harvey Hospital has reopened with a fresh layer of tarmac after the Nightingale ‘surge hub’ was taken down earlier this month.

The facility was built to provide extra capacity for patients with Covid-19 after the emergence of the Omicron variant.

However, after £3.7 million was spent, the facility was never used and it was announced it would close just weeks after its completion.

A spokeswoman for the East Kent Hospital Trust said: “The car park reopened last week, after we took the opportunity to give it a long-overdue resurfacing treatment.

"We are also resurfacing the fracture clinic car park, and that should be finished by the end of the week.”

While the hub was set up, patients and visitors were instead directed to park in one of the staff areas.

An overspill car park was then set up for workers at the Julie Rose Stadium, 1.2 miles away, where staff could get a shuttle bus to the hospital.

The trust says this service will be available until the end of May when its use will be reviewed.

Ashford MP Damian Green says he is pleased to see the car park is back up and running.

“This is one sign of the hospital going back to normal,” he said.

“Hopefully we can use this summer to make a dent in the backlog of appointments and treatments which is the next big task for the hospital.

“Case numbers are going up because this variant is very transmissible but so far the number of people needing serious treatment hasn’t gone up so much, that’s why the Nightingale isn’t needed.

“More people will be spending time outdoors now too and we know that helps reduce cases.”