Today, Marks & Spender is sharing its plans to support the NHS in its response to COVID-19.
M&S has been working with NHS teams and its longstanding hospital partners to understand how, as a clothing and food retailer, it can best help meet some of the needs of the fantastic frontline NHS teams and the patients in their care.
As a result, the following donations are under way:
- From next week, M&S Food will start a new, twice-weekly free food delivery service for the NHS workers at M&S’s longstanding hospital partners at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
- M&S is donating thousands of specially branded t-shirts to form part of the uniform pack for the NHS Nightingale frontline team in London.
- M&S is sourcing, packing and delivering much needed individual clothing care packs as a donation to NHS Nightingale London to help provide comfort and dignity for discharged patients.
- M&S is donating over 4,000 pyjamas to be used as scrubs to NHS Derbyshire, located close to our Castle Donington distribution centre.
- M&S is donating to the NHS Charities Together COVID-19 Urgent Appeal and has enabled customers to select the appeal as their Sparks charity – so M&S will continue to donate every time they shop.
CEO Steve Rowe (pictured) said, “We’re doing our bit to help the NHS by focussing on what we do best - providing great food and clothes - in the hope we can make it just a little easier for our NHS heroes to do what they do best, as well as the patients in their care.
'We get through these challenging times by pulling together and it’s been truly humbling to read the suggestions that have been pouring in from colleagues and customers alike with ideas for how we can help those on the NHS frontline.
'At a time when everyone is facing into personal challenges and our own frontline colleagues are working round the clock - it’s heartening to see the whole nation is getting behind the fantastic NHS teams we’re relying on right now. We really are all in this together and I’m delighted we have been able to turn some of those ideas into action.”
Natalie Forrest, Chief Operating Officer at NHS Nightingale London, said, “These packs will ensure real dignity for our patients and make the nurses very proud to be able to provide such an amazing level of care.”
As well as supporting these hospitals, M&S has introduced steps to help make it easier for our NHS heroes to access the products and services they need quickly and easily.
It follows the introduction of special shopping hours for NHS, emergency service and health and social care workers every Tuesday and Friday during the first hour of trade and dedicated M&S Bank telephone banking hours from 6pm to 7pm every day.
M&S has also increased the size and product range of daily deliveries to its 46 hospital stores across the UK to help NHS workers access essential family products, including more meat, fish, produce and personal care items.
