The meals, which are free of charge, are being prepared by our catering partner Levy and distributed daily for an initial period of six weeks, with 13,000 meals per week given.

The initiative is aimed at helping NHS staff who are working long shifts and therefore may find it difficult to obtain good-quality food on a regular basis, and also forms part of our continued effort to support the most vulnerable in our community during the global coronavirus pandemic.

The meals will be provided to Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust across their five local hospitals, including St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, Charing Cross Hospital in Fulham and Hammersmith Hospital.

As well as our commitment to the NHS we will also be working alongside charity partners to support the elderly, those in sheltered accommodation and vulnerable groups. These include Age UK, The Smile Brigade, Unity Works, and other housing units in London.

Chelsea Chairman Bruce Buck said: ‘We are and have always been committed to supporting our communities, especially the vulnerable, and at this time we recognise this is more important than ever.

‘Our owner, Roman Abramovich, has been instrumental in challenging us to find ways to support those in need and after we successfully launched the Refuge campaign and made the Millennium Hotel at Stamford Bridge available to the NHS, this was the priority so I am pleased to see it begin.’

Professor Julian Redhead, medical director at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust said: ‘All our staff are working incredibly hard to support our patients and their loved ones during this very challenging time and it’s so important that staff can access healthy, nutritious food. We’re hugely grateful for this generous new initiative from Chelsea Football Club, which helps us to support the health and wellbeing of our incredible people.’

Jess Millwood, CEO of Age UK Kensington and Chelsea, added: ‘Chelsea FC’s support ensures that Age UK in Kensington and Chelsea can supply fresh daily meals to older vulnerable and isolated people.‘They include people living with dementia, significant frailty and illnesses such as cancer. Covid-19 is frightening and challenging, but the community response has been heart-warming. We are really grateful to Chelsea FC who have stepped up to help out so generously.’

Click to read about the Refuge campaign to raise awareness and valuable funds to support women and children experiencing domestic abuse and to donate