One hundred student rooms at the University of Bristol have been made available to NHS staff working on the frontline of the fight against coronavirus.
The accommodation at 33 Colston Street will now be occupied by NHS workers and volunteers, with students being asked to offer their rooms as part of the scheme.
Just moments away from the Bristol Royal Infirmary, the accommodation will be used by recently qualified doctors from the University of Bristol’s medical school, as well as third and fourth-year medical students who volunteered for the NHS during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The rooms will be available to them, at a subsidised cost, for as long as they need.
The university says the majority of students have been overwhelmingly supportive and added staff have helped them move to nearby accommodation and store their items safely.
Ellie Todd, an undergraduate in Childhood Studies, was one of the current residents who moved out to make way for NHS staff.
She also left some items – such as toiletries and food – behind for the new NHS residents to use.
She said: “Given the scale of the pandemic, I think it’s easy for many of us to feel helpless.
"When we were asked by the University to make way for NHS staff, I was only too happy to agree, and I know a lot of my fellow residents felt the same.”
Giving accommodation to NHS staff is one of the many ways the university’s students and staff are helping the local, national and international community to tackle coronavirus.
Adam Perriman's group in the school of cellular and molecular medicine produced 10 litres of hand sanitiser, which they donated to charities CLIC Sargent and St Mungo’s.
The university has also made two of its biggest car parks available to NHS staff at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, and has donated personal protective equipment, such as suits, goggles, gloves and masks to the South Western Ambulance Service.
Meanwhile at the veterinary school, staff are part of a nationwide effort with The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons to provide ventilators and other equipment for the NHS.
So far, the school has donated PPE and lists of equipment – including ventilators and lab testing kits – that can be used by medical and scientific professionals treating and testing for COVID-19 across the country.
