Anyone frontline NHS, or related to someone who is, please tell us if there is anything truly useful we could do to help?

[Toomuchstuffwillkillme]

Trying to post something positive!! As someone due to come out of self-isolation soon (that's a whole different thread...) with very little work on atm due to the current situation, I would love to know from people at the sharp end if there's anything practical we could volunteer to do that would actually help people on the front line dealing with Covid-19.
Is there anything that hospitals are short of at the moment which the general public could help with? I have seen people are sewing scrubs, for example, which looks helpful, and also people offering to provide food, which may or may not be helpful depending on whether what they're providing is actually what staff want to eat!
I have no idea except for what's on the news what things are genuinely like in UK hospitals right now, and as someone with severely immunocompromised family members I feel so frustrated that I'm unable to do anything positive other than stay at home.

There must be a lot of people with potentially useful transferable skills who've been furloughed and are sitting on their sofas at the moment. Any suggestions? And if you are working in the NHS atm, I understand you probably haven't got time to reply to a MN thread, but maybe you could get a family member to post something that might make your life a little bit better right now? Thank you so much

Hot nutritious food at night.

My trust, who have been pretty good overall, have been “in talks” to sort out hot nutritious food at night for about three weeks. We’ve had occasionally pizza deliveries which is lovely but chilli, stew, curries, jacket potatoes etc would be amazing. Vending machine at the hospital have been turned off and it’s so much harder now to get out and get stuff from the supermarket. It would have to be coordinated with the trust, don’t pitch up at 4am with a vat of curry but if anyone has the wherewithal to deliver anything like that it would be massively needed x

I’m not in the NHS
I work for a charity
In last few days we have set up an telephone befriending service, help to sort out finances and form filing for benefits
I’m madly compiling lists of resources to help people from shopping services to dog walking
There is tons of voluntary stuff you can do from your own sofa!

I have a team of volunteers helping me
Try your local CVS, ageUK, age concern, local council volunteer hub, Macmillan etc
We all need volunteer help right now

WhenYouveAFirstInEnglish I suspected that was probably the case - any idea how best someone could get in touch with your local trust if they felt they could offer something along those lines?

What about seeing drawstring PEStyle bags? I’ve seen people offering these for frontline staff to bring their uniform home in then even the bag can go in one wash.

I would just email chief executive, easy to google, or pass details to someone you know who works in the trust. We are getting daily briefings with who to contact for various things so we could easily pass it up the chain

Lots of trusts are directly recruiting volunteers, google those near you. There are also regional facebook groups being set up so people wishing to support health workers can offer support there. Thank you :)

The National Farmers Union have said we need some 40k of the NHS volunteers to give their time to the farming industry this Spring and Summer for harvesting or we will face massive shortages.

Never vote Tory ever.
Volunteer for a local hospital or charity.

If you know of any nhs workers or their families phone them for a brief chat or checkin or text them - friendly chats are very welcome at the moment.
DH is working on a CV19 ward and both he and I are stressed to buggery about it
On top of trying to juggle kids & work from home & all the stresses of wider family life and my own health (long term chronic condition not currently under control) its all to bloody much - I'm trying to hold it together for the kids but had a little cry on the toilet today.

wonkylegs have a big hug
I've seen the drawstring PE bags mentioned on the For the Love of Scrubs Facebook page... can't do a link... yes I could sew those even if I can't sew scrubs!!
I have also seen Leon's FeedNHS initiative in the news but I think that's just in London www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/27/leon-sets-up-initiative-to-deliver-free-hot-meals-to-nhs-staff-coronavirus
Seems like someone should be able to link up commercial kitchens near hospitals not currently able to be used with food supplies that aren't currently going to restaurants. Then we'd need people to cook and deliver. (Preferably people with very good hygiene who could be offered a coronavirus test once they finally get round to testing staff properly!) It seems shocking that Britain doesn't feed its hospital staff properly. Maybe that could be something positive for the future that could come out of this whole mess.

I contacted my local hospital trust charity and they said the best thing for me to do (while stuck home shielding DD) was to start a JustGiving earmarked for the staff. They are putting together ‘care packs’ of snacks, toiletries and other other useful items (such as phone chargers) on a massive scale for staff at the 7 trust hospitals and the upcoming CV19 field hospital.

This way they can fill in the gaps left after businesses have donated goods in bulk.

I don’t expect to raise much as everyone is worried about money but everything adds up.

Our local GP has got the community making face masks. These are not classed as PPE but are to try and stop the droplets spreading from the wearer. Trading Standards got involved even though these were being donated to people who requested them - carers, etc and as long as they are told they are 'decorative covers' for proper face masks they can be given out. So many people are asking for them, it's incredible.

I have found some more links (before I give up for tonight!) because I guess the more publicity the better:
These people are doing pretty much what DuLANG suggested uk.gofundme.com/f/corona-care-challenge
and here's a link to make 'decorative covers' (!) like Flowers just posted about www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/a31902442/how-to-make-medical-face-masks/

What @AnotherEmma said. Please don't vote Tory in future!