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5 Remarkable Lockdown Initiatives Supporting the NHS

Apr 30, 2020.

The current period of lockdown has allowed people to create some brilliantly supportive initiatives to help the NHS; and we’ve been doing our bit to help, too.

As the UK’s leading multidisciplinary healthcare recruiter, ID Medical’s perspective on the current Covid 19 pandemic has naturally been a highly specific and targeted one.

Our response to the ongoing situation continues to reflect our unique insight and positioning within the healthcare staffing sector. We remain committed to supporting the NHS and fighting coronavirus by matching nurses and doctors with job vacancies on the frontline.
Of course, to say that the rapid global spread of the virus has created an unusually challenging situation for all involved in the wider UK healthcare industry would be a huge understatement. Every day, our nurses and doctors are performing their jobs with an outstanding level of dedication, determination and skill, making our NHS the true public-serving powerhouse that it is.
Those key workers are the precise reason we’ve seen such a passionate outpouring of support and appreciation from people the length and breadth of the country. Here at ID Medical, we feel it’s important to highlight some of the many support initiatives we’ve seen directed towards NHS healthcare staff by people in lockdown all over the UK.
 

1. Clap For Our Carers

Arguably the most visible and literal show of public support for their NHS workers has been the wildly popular ‘Clap For Our Carers’ initiative. What began as an experimental one-off attempt to coordinate a timed round of applause by people in lockdown clearly captured the mood of a nation: it’s now a televised weekly event in which millions gladly participate.
A genuinely heartfelt show of national thanks to doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, and all involved in helping fight this coronavirus on the front lines.
 

2. Widespread calls for increased PPE provision

Pressure mounted quickly and dramatically on the cabinet from the moment the first reports of limited equipment availability surfaced. The backing of the wider public for this cause – including an unprecedented level of high-profile support from celebrities and influencers across all industries and social media platforms – has been emphatic throughout.
As a direct result, tackling any form of NHS supply chain issue is now the government’s leading day-to-day priority.
 

3. Contributions to science and engineering from home

Huge numbers of people in lockdown have been moved to contribute directly to the fight using their own technology and expertise, such is the level of public support for the ongoing safety and wellbeing of its healthcare workers.
Perhaps most notably, many major institutions including universities, businesses and charity organisations have organised themselves and their users into mass 3D printing collectives, helping to alleviate strain on the PPE supply chain.
Elsewhere, cutting-edge initiatives such as Folding@home have seen hundreds of thousands of volunteers giving over segments of their home computing power to help simulate the dynamics of Covid 19 proteins; vastly expanding the urgent worldwide hunt for new therapeutic opportunities.
 

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4. Business and retail support for NHS key workers

The fight against this pandemic has seen an impressive number of commercial enterprises providing direct support to nurses, doctors and healthcare workers via a broad range of discounts, initiatives and other tokens of appreciation throughout lockdown.
They range from supermarkets offering dedicated opening hours for key workers only, through to many dozens of leading brand discounts, care packages, travel arrangements and wellbeing support offers pouring in from organisations of all types and sizes.
All of this is, of course, ultimately driven by the prevailing mood of the UK public, and businesses in almost every sector are taking strides to reflect that. For a full list of providers, check the regularly updated NHS staff offers page.
 

5. Individual campaigns

Among all these headline-grabbing national lockdown drives that have taken place during the lockdown, it’s typically the case that some of the most intensely personal and dedicated shows of support come from people and groups operating at a true grassroots level.
That’s certainly been true of the response during the Covid 19 outbreak: it’s genuinely difficult to estimate just how many individual acts of giving and appreciation continue to take place on a daily basis in all areas of the country. They range from the staggering £28m (and growing!) raised by 99-year-old Yorkshire veteran Captain Tom Moore, to the vast numbers of people signing up for social media-driven initiatives like Run For Heroes, and everything in between.
Moreover, it shows no signs of slowing – more and more people every day are pledging their support and appreciation in more ways than we could possibly hope to list here.
In short, the phenomenal work being done by the UK’s NHS doctors, nurses and healthcare workers during this incredibly trying time is not going unnoticed by the public we’re determined to protect. If you’re looking for ways to join the key workforce directly, you can browse for current vacancies using the ID Medical jobs database.
And, once again, thanks to you all.

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