Ant and Dec help open NHS Nightingale hospital in Sunderland

Ant and Dec have paid tribute to NHS staff and frontline workers in the battle with coronavirus at the opening of the NHS Nightingale Hospital North East.

The pair recorded video messages for the virtual ceremony, which was attended only by members of Team Northumbria – the NHS staff, businesses and organisations who transformed the building in to a 460-bed hospital.

Dec, real name Declan Donnelly, said: “It’s hard to imagine that a few short weeks ago this building was being readied as the Sunderland Innovation Centre and today, thanks to more than 300 people working around the clock, it’s been transformed into a state-of-the-art, 460-bed hospital.”