A Church Related Community Work (CRCW) project is to help a hospital start a food parcel distribution service for NHS staff struggling with the cost of living.
Initiated by staff, the service will be run at Royal Derby Hospital by volunteers, including those from Derby Alive to Community (A2C), a CRCW project for Ashbourne Road Church and Mackworth United Reformed Church in the East Midlands Synod.
Vicky Longbone, CRCW for Derby A2C, which runs a foodbank, said it was outrageous that hospital staff were struggling to feed themselves.
“I think it’s absolutely disgraceful that we were two years ago standing on our doorsteps clapping for these people and now they’re going hungry,” Vicky said.
“It’s disgraceful how little they get paid in the first place.”
University Hospital of Derby and Burton (UHDB) NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, said its staff were working in partnership with charities to provide the service.
The parcels will contain a number of staple food items, such as cereal, milk, some fresh foods, tins of beans and meat and packets of pasta, and will provide enough food to last three days.
Derby Food 4 Thought Alliance, a food poverty charity which supports 11 foodbanks in the area, will also be offering follow-up advice and support to the NHS staff who request parcels.
Additional cost-of-living measures have also been put in place in Derbyshire to support staff.
Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust has extended a patient referral scheme with Citizens Advice to staff, who can be awarded up to £500 of a cost-of-living grant if assessed as being in need.
A UHDB spokesperson said the Trust was a “people-first” organisation that has a number of initiatives in place to help it be a supportive and positive place to work.
“We also have a group of staff who are working in partnership with some local charities to facilitate easy access to food parcels that can be collected at work, for anyone who might benefit from extra help,” the spokesperson added.
Image: Nurses protesting for fair pay. Tim Dennell/Flickr CC by 2.0.