Gifts for front line NHS staff

[Nocaloriesinchocolate]

I would like to give a gift to those working in our local Covid wards to say thank you and wondered if they're a bit bored with, say, chocolates (even if not bored with the sentiment behind the gift). So what else can I give? I thought maybe huge pots of hand cream but maybe they have that anyway. There's no problem getting the gift to them - DS is in and out of Covid wards a lot so he could take it in if I ordered through Amazon to be sent to his address.

Any ideas, folks?

Biscuits are always welcome, especially quality ones.
Hand cream would be very welcome but it would have to have a squirt type dispenser.

That’s so lovely. I’m in intensive care and honestly anything is always appreciated, so yes to chocolates or pens! For something a bit different in the last “peak” we were given a couple of cases of soft drinks. It was so lovely on break having been in full PPE all shift to have a refreshing lemonade/ orange juice etc rather than just the water that had sat in my bottle since leaving home (obviously can’t even take masks off to drink when in covid areas). Or pens, nurses/ drs/ receptionists etc love a pen! Black not blue though

Posted too soon ... but lovely of you to think to send something!

Where we work chocolate and biscuits go down well, as would cans of drinks. That's a really nice idea. I have found wearing PPE has made me more thirsty and my face always feels hot!

Latte, mocha sachets, ANYTHING edible 🤣 we get very hungry lol it's a lovely thought.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'm on to them! In lockdown 1 I ordered a couple of boxes of chocolates to be delivered to DS to give to the Covid ward people. Weeks later he confessed that he'd only handed over one and eaten the other!!! Well, he does go in and out of Covid wards so I supposed I had to forgive him!

Chocolate/biscuits etc are always always welcomed! Very nice of you to do that

Fancy coffee sachets, nice tea, cans of juice. They won't be able to drink while in PPE so it's good to have something nice to drink on your break.

If you can, get stuff that's individually wrapped (like quality streets, catering packs on individually wrapped biscuits).

In my trust there is advise against sharing a biscuit tin or box of unwrapped chocolates for example, because of the risk of cross contamination (I don't know how high that risk actually is, but it's what the trust H&s team have advised).

Also, having nice coffee or tea sachets is a nice treat - can have a latte or a fancy tea without the £.

Do you know though, what my team love more than anything is a personalised written card saying thank you to the team- it's something that gives everyone a boost.

Yes the card. If you can say exactly what they did and how they went above the call of duty they can use it for evidence in audit/appraisal.
Cans of drink is a great shout or small tetras packs of juice.

Thank you everyone. Re the card, that's a non starter as I haven't, thank goodness, been in hospital. It's just that I hear from DS how stressed etc all the staff are

Fancy coffee sachets or soft drinks 😊

If you are lucky you are allowed to use ward squash and coffee/tea which is very basic....

So anything treatwise like that (individually wrapped) would go down great!

Best gift is for everyone to stop voting Tory

Well said paddy

Have you checked the hospital social media? Here they are asking for donations if people wish to donate, and they coordinate care packages for staff and treats etc. It seems to work well, but aware not everywhere is doing it.

Just to repeat what iliketeaagain has said check the rules with food sharing as our trust has also put a ban on sharing food, pizza ordering etc.

What a lovely thing to do. I was redeployed to a Covid Ward from April to August. The local community were so generous. The very best gift was a tray of ice cold juice cartons...when your in full PPE working on a hot ward it was pure bliss to drink something cold 😊