Food and drink donations requested for mental health facility

Charlton Lane Hospital, a mental health facility in Cheltenham, and its sister hospital, Wotton Lawn in Gloucester, is asking food and drink suppliers to donate items for goody bags for staff members.

Charlton Lane Hospital in Cheltenham.

Ross Graham, a charge nurse at Charlton Lane Hospital, commented: “We have at least three wards that have some patients who have tested COVID-19 positive.

“We have roughly 150 staff working at both sites. Staff morale is tremendous and there is a fantastic team spirit but under current conditions we are finding it stressful and demanding.

“Recently, Mars organised a consignment of Easter eggs that was really well received by staff. I am trying to put together goody bags for staff members so I have approached many of my colleagues who still work within FMCG to see if they can arrange for samples of food and drink, and whilst not advocating alcohol as a stress reliever we may have some beer coming our way as well!”

Graham said that ideal items for the goody bags are cakes, confectionery, snacks and crisps – indeed just about anything that can be given to staff by way of a thank you.

“As you can appreciate, other than a uniform and the odd sticking plaster the opportunity for NHS staff to access free things is quite limited; we also really appreciate things like pens or branded items – t-shirts etc,” he said. “Any donations from suppliers would be really appreciated.”

The delivery address is:

Ross Graham
Charlton Lane Hospital
Charlton Lane
Cheltenham
GL53 9DT

Ross Graham can also be contacted at ross.graham@ghc.nhs.uk