What was claimed
The new Nightingale Hospital in London wants people to post it home-made art to brighten up the walls.
Our verdict
This is not true. The “Rainbows for Nightingale” appeal was not an official one. The hospital has confirmed this.
NHS Nightingale does not want art in the post
An unauthorised appeal for children’s drawings calling itself “Rainbows for Nightingale” has been widely shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The rumour claims that the new Nightingale Hospital in London is collecting colourful art to brighten up the Excel Centre, where it is based. Some versions of the appeal say that the art should be sent to an address in London. Others say that it should be sent to a regional hub address.
According to the hospital itself, “a fake Facebook account has been set up for the Nightingale Hospital London asking people to share rainbow pictures”.
Nightingale Hospital has confirmed on its Facebook and Twitter accounts that the appeal was not an official one. It has asked people to share their art online using #RainbowsForNightingale, so it can “share them with staff and patients at the hospital digitally”—but not to send anything in the post.
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At one point, the Sun published an article telling people to send their artwork to the hospital, but this has now been removed from its website.
In some places around the UK, people have been displaying rainbow art in their windows during the coronavirus outbreak.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the Nightingale Hospital has confirmed that this is not an official appeal and have asked people not to physically send pictures.