Coronavirus: Tesco builds NHS staff shop at Nightingale hospital
Tesco has secured a contract to provide a pop-up shop at a new Nightingale NHS hospital, which is being constructed to treat the surge in coronavirus patients.
On Sunday the supermarket began work on the first pop-up store at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, which is being transformed into a coronavirus hospital.
Tesco is in late stage talks about launching pop-up shops at other emergency Nightingale hospitals that are being built around the country, including the completed site at London’s Excel Centre.
Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis said: “As part of our continued commitment to support and thank those in the NHS for all they are doing, we began work on Sunday on our first dedicated NHS Nightingale Hospital pop-up store, at the NEC in Birmingham.
“Following an idea from Public Health England, we will be providing NHS staff with on-site 24 hour access to the food and household products they need. Construction at the NEC started yesterday and we aim to be open by the end of next week.”
The grocer has partnered with SalutetheNHS.org which will provide one million free meal parcels to front line NHS workers. Tesco will donate all the food and ingredients for the food parcels.
Tesco also announced it has removed the three item limit off most of its product lines, excluding toilet rolls, household and personal cleaning product, packets and tins of food, including pasta and rice, fresh eggs and home baking.
In a letter to customers Lewis said: “We sincerely hope these measures, taken alongside everything else we have done in the last few weeks, mean we’re able to give our colleagues and customers access to the essentials they need, in a safe environment.
“We also hope that by using our skills and resources, we can make a real difference to supporting communities, and particularly those in need or on the frontline.”