London O2 arena to become NHS training ground for staff fighting coronavirus
AEG has made London’s O2 Arena available to the NHS for the training of additional staff required at the new Nightingale hospital in the Excel centre.
The venue’s owner has handed the concert venue over to the NHS until the end of June in order to assist with the growing number of staff required to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.
The NHS will be using the O2 Arena as an educational training facility to prepare staff and no patients will be treated on site.
AEG is not charging the NHS for use of the space, and will reimburse any costs.
The decision is one of a number of steps mobile operator O2, which agreed to AEG’s proposals, has taken to assist the health service in face of the pandemic.
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The firm has also increased capacity for various emergency “blue light” services as well as monitoring key sites to increase network resilience.
Chief executive Mark Evans said: “Mobile connectivity is more important than ever before and we’re continuing to work hard to keep the country connected.
“We’ve seen the highest volume of voice traffic ever carried on our network and we know how important those conversations are.
“From providing additional capacity for the NHS, to working with our partners to utilise venues such as The O2, we’re committed to giving customers and key workers the network they need to keep in contact with those closest to them.”