Today, M&S is sharing its plans to support Northern Ireland’s Nightingale Hospital with clothing care packs for patients, as NHS teams and hospitals across the country work to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Nightingale Hospital, based at Belfast City Hospital’s tower block, is treating patients across Northern Ireland, helping to save lives and protect the NHS.
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, M&S is currently sourcing, packing and delivering much needed individual clothing care packs, and pairs of pyjamas, as a donation to the Belfast City Hospital.
The individual care packs each contain a t-shirt, jumper, joggers, underwear and socks, and will be available in a range of sizes. The aim is that the clothing will help provide patients with some comfort and normality when they are discharged.
Philip Conlon, Head of Region for Northern Ireland, said: “We’re doing our bit to help the NHS in Northern Ireland by focussing on what we do best – providing great clothes – in the hope we can make it just a little easier for our NHS heroes as well as the patients in their care. At a time when everyone is facing their own personal challenges and our own frontline colleagues are working round the clock – it’s heartening to see the whole nation 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 support Northern Ireland’s Nightingale Hospital during this time.”
Director of Nursing & User Experience at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Brenda Creaney, said: “We would like to thank Marks & Spencer for their very generous donation to the Nightingale Hospital in Belfast, we have been overwhelmed by the generosity they have shown to our staff and patients, it truly means so much to us.”
In further efforts to support local communities in Northern Ireland during the COVID-19 outbreak, M&S has kickstarted the Neighbourly Community Fund with an injection of £100,000 which is already seeing more than 3,000 people in need across Northern Ireland being supported by 12 local good causes and groups.
The scheme is helping to provide crucial emergency funding to deliver on-the-ground support to the most vulnerable. M&S stores across Northern Ireland are also working to redistribute surplus food and flowers to charities in their local area.
As well as an initial £100k cash injection from the M&S family, vital funds for the scheme are also being raised by Sparks cards customers, who are able to select Neighbourly as their chosen Sparks charity when they shop with M&S in store or online.
Making it easier for NHS teams to access what they need
M&S has also 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.
For more information on how M&S is supporting its customers, communities and colleagues, please visit: www.marksandspencer.com/c/allinthistogether
