King's provides respite and support for frontline NHS staff

From opening a testing centre to helping train NHS staff, the King’s community is making a direct contribution to the fight against COVID-19. Staff from across King’s are also ensuring that keyworkers have access to food, drinks and downtime spaces between shifts so that they can continue to care for those in need.

The Estates and Facilities team is collaborating with King’s NHS partners to provide storage space for emergency supplies and additional support to keyworkers. To reduce time spent commuting to work, they have made rooms in student halls available for final year nursing students who have been seconded into NHS. Dedicated downtime spaces have also been created at Guy’s and Denmark Hill so that frontline staff can get some much-needed rest. And to help make journeys to and from work easier, car parking spaces have been offered to NHS staff.

Teams from across King's have helped maintain the energy levels of frontline staff through hot meals, drinks and snacks. Since the UK lockdown was announced, King’s Food outlets have stayed open across our campuses to provide refreshments to those working in the NHS. From mid-April to mid-May, King’s Food and Science Gallery London staff served over 1,000 free hot drinks to frontline workers at Guy’s campus. And a keyworker shop was set-up in KCLSU’s The Shed and Guy’s Bar to store and distribute donations to NHS staff.

To help boost the wellbeing of NHS staff, the Residences team at Stamford Street Apartments (SSA) have been putting together care packages as part of the #NHSWellnessBox initiative, which was created by Dr Vishal Patel, a King’s College Hospital doctor, and his wife. Members of SSA residences team volunteered their time after Mohammed Abu-Asi, Allocations Assistant Welfare Officer for King’s Residences, contacted Paul Miller, the Stamford Street Apartments Residence Manager, about the initiative. Paul jumped at the chance to help and provided a safe space to assemble, store and distribute the wellness boxes. So far, the Residences team has delivered over 200 wellness boxes to staff at St Thomas’ Hospital.

King’s College London was founded in 1829 on the ambition to serve society. This ambition is stronger than ever as we come together to help one another and communities beyond King’s during this challenging time.

Visit the #ContinuingToServe webpage to discover the many ways in which King’s is continuing to serve our local, national and international communities, let us know how you can help or discover existing projects that need support.