The fast food company Leon is bringing together restaurants, food distributors and suppliers to deliver free daily hot meals to NHS critical care staff.
FeedNHS will begin working with Imperial College Healthcare NHS trust and University College London Hospitals NHS foundation trust to deliver 5,600 meals a day to five of their major hospitals.
Symptoms are defined by the NHS as either:
- a high temperature - you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
- a new continuous cough - this means you've started coughing repeatedly
NHS advice is that anyone with symptoms should stay at home for at least 7 days.
If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home.
After 14 days, anyone you live with who does not have symptoms can return to their normal routine. But, if anyone in your home gets symptoms, they should stay at home for 7 days from the day their symptoms start. Even if it means they're at home for longer than 14 days.
If you live with someone who is 70 or over, has a long-term condition, is pregnant or has a weakened immune system, try to find somewhere else for them to stay for 14 days.
If you have to stay at home together, try to keep away from each other as much as possible.
After 7 days, if you no longer have a high temperature you can return to your normal routine.
If you still have a high temperature, stay at home until your temperature returns to normal.
If you still have a cough after 7 days, but your temperature is normal, you do not need to continue staying at home. A cough can last for several weeks after the infection has gone.
Staying at home means you should:
- not go to work, school or public areas
- not use public transport or taxis
- not have visitors, such as friends and family, in your home
- not go out to buy food or collect medicine – order them by phone or online, or ask someone else to drop them off at your home
You can use your garden, if you have one. You can also leave the house to exercise – but stay at least 2 metres away from other people.
If you have symptoms of coronavirus, use the NHS 111 coronavirus service to find out what to do.
Source: NHS England on 23 March 2020
The initiative, which is also being backed by the Wasabi, Abokado and Franco Manca chains, comes after it emerged that as much as £20m of food with a shelf life of less than three months is lying in warehouses after the government ordered the closure of millions of hospitality businesses to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Suppliers and wholesalers still have delivery networks and production teams as well as food. John Vincent, the chief executive of Leon, said he hoped he could bring together entrepreneurs across the industry to harness their resources to feed NHS workers.
Vincent said: “We have launched FeedNHS because we have been inundated with direct requests from NHS staff and from their families, asking us to feed them. These amazing people need us. They are already going without sleep. If they also don’t have good food, they will burn out faster, function less well and become ill themselves.
“We hope other restaurant brands will join us in helping them. The hospitality industry is full of wonderful and passionate people. I expect many will want to be part of this action where they can, and where they still have the capabilities and facilities.”
Leon, which has converted about 10 of its 75 UK takeaway outlets as shops where it is possible to buy some groceries as well as ready meals, already offers a 50% discount to NHS teams. It has also committed to turn over 100% of profits to the NHS during the crisis.
Leon is also working on an online store offering restaurant-quality ready meals, sauces, meats and other foods sourced from restaurants and their suppliers who are looking for alternative outlets during the coronavirus closures.
