Former McLaren Formula 1 boss Ron Dennis signs off £1million to help feed the NHS

Formula 1

Dennis signs off £1million to help feed the NHS

Dennis is aiming to hand out one million meals to hospital staff

Ian Parkes

Sunday 5 April 2020 15:41 Updated: 16:45

Former McLaren Formula 1 boss Ron Dennis is donating over £1million to help feed NHS workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

The funding, via Dennis' Dream Chasing Foundation, is being used for a project entitled 'SalutetheNHS.org', with the aim to help deliver one million meals to hospitals around the country, starting from Monday, April 6 with the John Radcliffe in Oxford and Great Ormond Street, London.

It is designed to ensure food is on hand to NHS staff unable to leave their clinical areas during exhausting 12-hour shifts, or who are self-isolating at home.

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Dennis, whose daughter is an anaesthetist in intensive care, told The Telegraph: "Charlotte came to me with a very human and personal problem, and the foundation aims to take this on. That's what this is all about.

"She said the issue is that there are quantities of medical staff in a specific section which must stay in their clinical areas due to cross-contamination, which keeps them away from eating areas. By the time food gets to them it's cold.

"Frontline workers then come off duty and don't have time to shop, so have to choose between eating and sleeping. When you put medical staff on the front line, the very least you can do is feed them."

Tesco is providing the ingredients for the food, while Absolute Taste is preparing the meals, and Yodel the delivery.

Dennis added: "I'm amazed at how my friends and business colleagues have stepped up to the plate.

"This is a time when all of us, individuals and businesses alike, need to stand up and be counted in the effort to combat COVID-19. We’re all in this together."

Dennis is providing an additional £500,000 of match-funding, with a Just Giving page available for donations at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/salutethenhs