The BBC has donated fully working ventilators from the set of medical drama Holby City to the new Nightingale Hospital in London
The corporation shared the news in a tweet, showing workers loading equipment into a van.
Holby City executive producer Simon Harper said: “We are only too happy to help out and do what we can for the courageous and selfless real-life medics.”
Fully operational ventilators from the Holby City set arrived at the new Nightingale Hospital yesterday. @BBCCasualty & @BBCHolbyCity Exec Producer Simon Harper said: "We are only too happy to help out and do what we can for the courageous and selfless real life medics." pic.twitter.com/oUFaRPVhyn
— BBC Studios (@bbcstudios) April 10, 2020
It was not immediately clear how many ventilators had been donated, or why working medical equipment was used on set.
The first new NHS Nightingale hospital was created in just nine days to help cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
It has the potential to offer 4,000 beds at the ExCeL Centre site in the capital’s Docklands, in Newham, east London.
The BBC ventilators were donated there as the drama is made in the South East, even though it is set in a fictional West Country city.
There are also Nightingale hospitals in Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and Harrogate, with two more announced on Friday on Wearside and in Exeter.
The BBC’s gesture is the latest in a national outpouring of gratitude to NHS staff risking their lives to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
On Thursday, the nation once again united for a country-wide round of applause for workers on the front line.
It came as the UK recorded its highest daily death toll since the outbreak began.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the daily No 10 news conference that as of Thursday there had been 8,958 hospital deaths from the disease, an increase of 980 on the previous day.