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NHS staff can claim the discount from Thursday 16 April
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The move is in addition to the NHS priority trading hours in place
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M&S has announced new steps to support NHS workers including a free food delivery service at selected hospitals
Morrisons is giving NHS workers a 10% discount on shopping for three months as a thank you for their work battling the coronavirus outbreak.
All 1.5 million NHS staff can claim the discount from this Thursday (16 April) until 12 July by presenting their ID cards in stores.
It’s the latest in a wave of measures from supermarkets to support the NHS amid the crisis, from dedicated trading hours to free meals.
Other steps by Morrisons include launching a click & collect food box service from 22 hospital car parks from this week. Workers at the hospitals can buy their box online and collect it when they finish their shift.
It’s on top of an hour of store trading set aside for NHS staff on Mondays to Saturdays and half an hour on Sundays.
“This discount is our thank you to all those working in the NHS at this very difficult time,” said Morrisons CEO David Potts. “We are giving them our full support and gratitude as they continue to care for and support the nation during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
M&S has also announced new steps, including a twice-weekly free food delivery service for NHS workers at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, and Great Ormond Street Hospital. Nearly 5,000 prepared meals, sandwiches and treats are to be delivered to the hospitals weekly for the next two months.
That’s in addition to M&S clothes donations, which will see thousands of t-shirts go to the NHS Nightingale frontline team in London to form part of their uniform pack.
M&S is also giving “individual clothing care packs” to NHS Nightingale to “help provide comfort and dignity for discharged patients”, it said.
A further 4,000 sets of pyjamas will go to NHS Derbyshire, near M&S’s Castle Donington distribution centre, to be used as scrubs.
M&S CEO Steve Rowe said: “We’re doing our bit to help the NHS by focusing on what we do best - providing great food and clothes - in the hope we can make it just a little easier for our NHS heroes to do what they do best, as well as the patients in their care.
“We get through these challenging times by pulling together and it’s been truly humbling to read the suggestions that have been pouring in from colleagues and customers alike with ideas for how we can help those on the NHS frontline.
“At a time when everyone is facing personal challenges and our own frontline colleagues are working round the clock - it’s heartening to see the whole nation is getting behind the fantastic NHS teams we’re relying on right now. We really are all in this together and I’m delighted we have been able to turn some of those ideas into action.”
NHS Nightingale chief operating officer Natalie Forrest said: “These packs will ensure real dignity for our patients and make the nurses very proud to be able to provide such an amazing level of care.”
M&S has also introduced special shopping hours for NHS, emergency service and health and social care workers, while increasing deliveries to hospital stores.
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