Meals for the NHS: £250,000 raised in seven days to feed health workers

More than £250,000 has been raised to help provide free hot meals for NHS staff, less than seven days after a campaign was launched by a small group of friends.

Meals for the NHS was just an idea last Sunday evening but has since provided 4,000 meals to hospitals with tens of thousands more expected soon.

"We were talking about how a group of friends who are NHS workers are just not eating properly," said Andrew Muir Wood, one of the London founders.

The campaign says workers are faced with canteens that shut at 5pm, and a surgeon from a Covid-19 intensive care unit told the group: "At weekends, overnight and evenings there is virtually nothing to eat except a vending machine with crisps and chocolate. Seriously."

Meals for the NHS for NHS workers at Whittington Hospital Credit: Meals for the NHS

Co-ordinating their work online during the UK lockdown, the friends came up with the idea to send meals from local food makers into hospitals.The group initially invested their own money to provide the meals - contributing around £2,000 between five people.

Meals for the NHS for NHS workers at University College Hospital Credit: Meals for the NHS

After sharing the campaign with family and friends, the initiative then began to spread on social media and has proved a huge hit.

The co-founder said they expect the cost per meal, around £5 or £6 at the moment, to reduce as the campaign grows, meaning the £250,000 raised so far will go "a really long way".> If you would like to support the campaign, visit mealsforthenhs.com or search for the hashtags #FeedTheNHS or #FeedTheHeroes on social media.