COVID-19: free hot meals for NHS nurses as England prepares for second lockdown

Deliveroo relaunches its Support the NHS campaign with free hot food deliveries to hospitals and cities in England

NHS staff in the UK will receive free hot meals from food delivery company Deliveroo.

Deliveroo has relaunched its Supporting the NHS campaign which ran during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company says it will deliver thousands of free meals to staff who are most affected by the second wave.

Plans to extend free meal deliveries to other UK cities and hospitals

Meals were delivered to staff in Manchester last week and from today free meals will be delivered to NHS staff in London, Liverpool, and Birmingham.

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The company also plans to extend the service to other cities and hospitals across the UK.

Deliveroo’s chief executive officer Will Shu said: ‘We want to make this small gesture of our enormous gratitude for all those working in healthcare.

‘As a British business we feel duty-bound to use our network and partners to support the NHS and vulnerable groups who will be affected by this crisis.’

Independent restaurants among the businesses to support Deliveroo’s campaign

Deliveroo has been working with its restaurant partners to secure donations of meals.

This includes Pizza Hut, which will donate side salads, pasta and other options along with its pizzas, and Rosa’s Thai Cafe, which will donate 500 meals per week.

The company will also be working with local independent restaurants near to the hospitals it is delivering to.

As part of the company’s food delivery campaign earlier this year, it raised almost £2 million from consumer and corporate donations and delivered 750,000 meals to NHS workers.

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Food delivery company also raises £500,000 for NHS trusts

The new campaign has no end date and will last for as long as NHS workers need it, said the company.

£500,000 has also been given in donations to NHS trusts across the country. The money was raised by consumers and Deliveroo partners as part of a fundraising campaign.

Health and social care secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘I am very pleased that Deliveroo will once again be providing free food to our incredible workforce working on the front line to keep us safe.’

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