Primark Donates Care Packs For Nhs Staff At New Nightingale Hospital

• Care packs containing 74,000 Primark products donated to NHS Nightingale Hospital

• This is in response to urgent calls for everyday items for busy NHS staff

• Nightingale donation part of 400,000 everyday Primark products being distributed in global volunteer effort by hundreds of Primark employees around the world

Primark is donating care packs filled with 74,000 products including underwear, leggings, t-shirts, footwear, and towels for NHS frontline staff working at the UK’s new NHS Nightingale Hospital in London, boxed and delivered by Primark volunteers.

The Nightingale donation forms just one part of a global volunteer effort by hundreds of Primark employees to support those at the forefront of the fightback against COVID-19. Primark care packs containing more than 400,000 products will be delivered to frontline workers, volunteers and patients in cities and towns around the world where Primark has stores.

The move by Primark responds to calls from health authorities, including the NHS in the UK, and charities for urgent supplies of everyday items. Primark care packs will be given to busy staff working back to back shifts or who are staying away from home, often to protect their families from infection. They will also be offered to patients who have no means of getting a fresh change of clothes or toiletries from home.

Recipients of Primark care packs already include the London Ambulance Service, Spanish Red Cross, INEM (National Institute of Medical Emergency) in Portugal, a number of hospitals across Ireland and a partnership with the Mayor of Boston’s Medical Intelligence Centre in Massachusetts, US. The NHS Nightingale Hospital in London received a first delivery this week with more to follow.

Matthew Trainer, Deputy CEO, NHS Nightingale said: “Thank you to Primark for their wonderful donation, their support comes at a time when everyday items are in such high demand. NHS Nightingale staff will find these packs of great use when finishing a shift and getting ready for another one. This gesture means the world to our teams and is a great example of the generosity that that has been shown to the hospital since it opened.”

Paul Marchant, CEO, Primark commented: “This is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to the healthcare heroes working tirelessly in the fight against COVID-19. We are proud to be able to provide much-needed everyday items like underwear, t-shirts and towels and hope this will make things a little easier at the end of long shifts. I also want to thank all our colleagues who have played their part, volunteering to pack, coordinate and deliver care packs to hospitals, charities and other healthcare organisations, to help frontline workers and patients across the UK, Europe and the US.”

Primark is supporting a variety of hospitals, first responders and charities working around the world. Examples of care packs delivered by Primark volunteers in the past two weeks:

• In the UK, 38,000 t-shirts, socks, underwear, hairclips, pyjamas and joggers have been included in care packs for the London Ambulance Service. NHS staff at Great Western Hospitals in Swindon received care packs with more than 1,500 pyjamas, t-shirts, leggings, underwear and toiletries. Care packs containing 30,000 products including toiletries and socks were donated to Birmingham Women’s Hospital and Birmingham Children’s Hospital, with a further 15,000 products being donated to King’s College Hospital, London. 500 towels were donated to the Hillingdon Hospital, London.

• Across Scotland, 6,000 products including water bottles and tissues have been delivered to NHS call centers, with 900 sets of pyjamas, toiletries and underwear sent to staff and patients at NHS Dumfries & Galloway.

• In Ireland, over 31,000 items including pyjamas, t-shirts and toiletries have been donated to a number of hospitals across the country. We also donated over 900 products to help create ‘home from home’ rooms for HSE staff staying in temporary accommodation.

• In Spain, 25,000 items including bedding sets, toiletries and clothing have been donated to three local hospitals in Madrid in partnership with the Spanish Red Cross.

• In Portugal, 18,000 bedding sets, toothbrushes, socks, bedsheets and pillows have been handed over as part of care packs to be distributed by the INEM (National Institute of Medical Emergency).

• In France, Primark donated 15,000 baseball caps to which plastic visors can be attached to help protect the Restos du Coeur team who continue to distribute meals and food to those in need.

• Across Italy, Primark donated 6,400 products including towels, clothing and toiletries to hospitals in Milan, Brescia, Verona and Florence.

• In Boston, where Primark opened its first store in the US, a partnership with the Mayor of Boston’s Medical Intelligence Centre saw Primark donate 900 products including pillows, bedding and towels to support city efforts to build temporary hospitals and support vulnerable local residents. A further 1,690 products were donated to St Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Tufts Medical Center and City of Boston Health Commission.

• In Germany, Primark donated 500 bedding products to a temporary hospital in Coesfeld.

• In addition to the 400,000 everyday items which Primark is donating, the company distributed 140,000 Easter food products to hospitals, homeless shelters and families in need over the Easter weekend.