An employee from MK Hospital is campaigning for all supermarkets to allow NHS and emergency workers to shop alongside the elderly and vulnerable during a 'special hour'.
This follows the news that Marks and Spencer's supermarkets are reserving the first opening hour of Tuesday's and Friday's for NHS and emergency workers to shop.
However, Julie Chambers, a maternity care assistant and receptionist at MK Hospital, believes that all supermarkets should be doing the same. She said: "Many of the amazing staff at MKUH work all sorts of shifts which don’t allow them to be able to get to the shops early enough to be able to get the things they need from the shops to keep themselves healthy and protected from this virus."
Sainsbury's today (19/3) reserved the first opening hour of its supermarkets for elderly and vulnerable individuals to shop.
Tesco also followed suit, with CEO David Lewis saying that vulnerable and elderly customers are prioritised in their supermarkets between 9-10am every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Many residents too believe that NHS and emergency workers should be included in these 'special hours'.
Julie continued: "We need to be concentrating on looking after our patients and not worrying that us and our family’s don’t have enough toilet roll or food to feed ourselves or our children. We can’t work from home. Our children are having to adapt as much as we are with the schools closing and only remaining open for key workers now.
"Knowing that we could either share this time with the elderly (whilst helping them at the same time) would greatly reduce our stress during the current pressures the NHS is facing. I hope that all Milton Keynes supermarkets will introduce this as well as the rest of the UK. It will benefit everyone in the long run."
Julie Chambers has launched a petition for all supermarkets to allow NHS and emergency workers to shop during these 'special hours'. View it here.
