Help desk staff are being recruited for new Nightingale hospital on £37,500 a year – £13,500 MORE than average wage for British nurses
- EXCLUSIVE: Job adverts are for Nightingale Hospital at ExCeL Centre in London
- Help desk staff work 12-hour shifts, four days on and four days off for £37.5k
- NHS nurses’ starting salary is just £24,000 or £12.74 an hour – less than cleaners
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Jobs for help desk staff at London’s new field hospital are being advertised for £13,500 more than the average nurse’s salary.
The NHS Nightingale Hospital is due to open this week at the ExCeL Centre in east London, providing up to 4,000 extra coronavirus patient beds.
But online job adverts show that reception staff at the new site are being recruited for thousands more per year than nurses forced to put their lives at risk to treat people with the virus.
Help desk staff annual salaries are advertised at £37,500, while NHS nurses start at £24,000.
The admin staff are also entitled to claim £15 a day for travel expenses and £10 for food, unlike frontline nurses.
Online adverts state that ‘full personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided for help desk staff, when NHS doctors and nurses nationwide are treating infectious patients without the recommended protective clothing.
Jobs for help desk staff at London’s new field hospital at the ExCeL exhibition centre are being advertised for £13,500 more than the average nurse’s salary
Online job adverts (pictured) show that reception staff at the new site are being recruited for thousands more per year than nurses forced to put their lives at risk to treat people with the virus
Jobs for cleaners, porters and food and drink distribution staff are also available for similar wages as nurses on the frontline.
Porter and food and drink distribution staff are being paid between £11.52 and £15.58 an hour, while nurses are paid a similar rate of £12.74 to £15.66 per hour.
The post recruiting for help desk staff on job site Integra People reads: ‘Helpdesk staff need!
‘We are recruiting for ExCeL London – a new temporary hospital equippred with ventilators and oxygen for patients of coronavirus.’
They will be expected to work 12-hour shifts within a pattern of four days on and four days off, with 30 days paid holiday a year.
The 68,750-capacity venue in the London Docklands is being built to ease pressure on the capital’s struggling NHS hospitals.
The city has more cases than anywhere else in the country, with some sites declaring emergencies as they near full capacity.
Jobs for cleaners, porters and food and drink distribution staff are also available for similar wages as nurses on the frontline
The NHS Nightingale Hospital is due to open this week at the ExCeL Centre in east London (construction pictured this week), providing up to 4,000 extra coronavirus patient beds
Members of the Armed forces are pictured laying down flooring at the ExCeL on Friday
Military planners are pictured together at the ExCeL centre in east London on Friday
More field hospitals are being installed at sites in Birmingham, Manchester and Wales.
The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham will add an initial 500 beds, with the potential to grow to 2,000 if necessary.
Manchester Central Convention Complex will add 500 more, with the capacity to expand to 1,000, and Cardiff’s Principality Stadium will provide up to 2,000 more.
Cardiff’s Pricipality Stadium, usually the Welsh home of Rugby Union, will provide 2,000 beds for COVID-19 patients across Wales.
There is speculation sports grounds and even gyms could become field hospitals in the desperate fight against the virus.
MailOnline has contacted NHS England for comment.
The 68,750-capacity venue in the London Docklands (pictured exterior) is being built to ease pressure on the capital’s struggling NHS hospitals