Covid-19 Urgent Appeal

Thanks to the heartfelt support from the public, our Covid-19 Urgent Appeal raised over £160 million to support patients, hospital staff and volunteers at the frontline of the crisis.

The NHS faced the biggest challenge in its history when the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, and the public wanted to do their bit to help. As the organisation representing all NHS charities across the UK, we became the focal point for this outpouring of support for the NHS and we launched our Urgent Covid-19 Appeal on 26th March 2020.

From that point, the nation came together in most incredible ways, and got behind our amazing NHS. From the ‘one million claps’ appeal in partnership with ITV that raised over £1 million, to Jordan Henderson’s ‘Players Together’ initiative that brought together premier league and national football team across the UK to support our cause.

Raising over £15 million in the first five days, the appeal went on to raise £160 million to support patients, hospital staff, and volunteers at the frontline of the crisis.

We mobilised quickly to allocate funds to reach every part of the UK through our member NHS charities. Our grants were issued in three phases to support urgent needs, community partnerships, and NHS recovery.

Over 90% of the projects we have funded through the urgent appeal are having long lasting impact, and we continue to support the long-term recovery of the NHS.