00:00May I offer my congratulations to everyone who has made it possible to open the NHS Louisa
00:05Jordan Hospital in Glasgow. Construction work only began on the 31st of March and was completed
00:12on the 19th of April, an astonishing achievement by contractors and all the NHS staff who were
00:18involved in the project. This is a successful team effort and it will need to continue in order to
00:24make the best use of the facilities here. I am particularly pleased by the name you've chosen.
00:32A few years ago I helped celebrate the centenary of the Scottish women's hospitals and their founder
00:39Dr Elsie Ingalls. Glasgow born Louisa Jordan and many others responded to her challenge by working
00:48as nurses in one of the 14 hospitals set up across Europe in the First World War.
00:54The biggest risk to their patients and themselves was often disease, especially typhus. Louisa Jordan
01:02herself died of typhus in Serbia in 1915. That devotion to patients is being shown by nurses,
01:10medical and support staff across Scotland today. So it is entirely fitting that we should name this
01:16important new hospital after Louisa Jordan. The role of this building is about providing
01:24spare capacity which will ensure support to the whole of the NHS in Scotland and importantly will
01:31give confidence that there are enough facilities available for whatever happens now or in the future.
01:38Covid-19 has done something very rare. It has affected every single person's life in some way,
01:46sadly for some in a very personal and final way. But while many people feel frustrated and helpless,
01:54the Louisa Jordan Hospital is a way of being positive and helpful and although we would all hope
02:00that it doesn't need to be used, we can all be very grateful that it exists.
02:06I'll see you soon as in the next couple of weeks.
02:06I'll see you in the next couple of weeks.
02:06It doesn't need to be used to try to fix the whole person's life of loneliness.
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