Every day this week, we’ll be shining a light on some daily good news or a business making positive action during the COVID-19 outbreak.

This morning it was announced that all Waitrose shops will set aside a proportion of hard-to-find and essential products from every delivery that arrives into its supermarkets – exclusively for NHS staff.  Whenever available, Partners in shops will reserve core grocery items to help get crucial basics to hard-working NHS workers – who often do not have flexibility over what time of the day they can visit a supermarket.

What’s more, NHS staff will be given priority checkout service in the retailer’s shops to ensure they are able to get through as quickly and easily as possible – through either dedicated NHS checkouts, Partners opening up new tills for them as needed or moving to the front of the queue.

In addition, John Lewis is responding to requests from NHS workers for anything that would make their breaks more comfortable. The retailer will be donating items such as pillows, phone chargers, eye masks and hand cream, as well as 50,000 Easter treats, to hospitals.

These new measures are part of the John Lewis £1million Community Support Fund, launched to help local communities along with a protected shopping hour for the elderly and vulnerable.

Many Waitrose shops have already been using their community funds to assemble care packages of essential items for vulnerable or elderly people in the local community. The John Lewis Partnership has also launched a support fund to aid its Partners who are facing additional costs as a result of the pandemic, along with free meals. And recently announced it is working with Age UK, FareShare and the Trussell Trust, donating £75,000 initially to each charity, for immediate activity in response to the coronavirus outbreak.