A giant ‘loveNHS’ sign has been temporarily installed outside Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge to thank NHS staff.
The Christmas Decorators Limited, which has a local branch based in Eaton Ford near St Neots in Cambridgeshire, has donated the giant, red heart and large, blue NHS letters to the world-leading heart and lung hospital.
The sign has been on tour around the country, appearing in cities like Nottingham and Liverpool for one-week periods. It was placed outside Royal Papworth’s main entrance last Friday and will be in situ for seven days.
The letters are two metres tall and five metres wide and greet staff as they arrive for their shift at the hospital, which is using its expertise in respiratory medicine to treat the most seriously ill coronavirus patients from across the East of England.
“When you're in the Christmas lighting business there isn't an awful lot you can do to contribute to the current situation that the world is going through,” said Ivor Keeley from the St Neots branch of The Christmas Decorators.
“However, what we can do is lift the spirit of those who are putting themselves in harm’s way for our safety, so we took some metal, some lights and got blisters on our fingers to create the sign.
"We know that Royal Papworth Hospital is a world leader in the field of respiratory medicine so we wanted to make sure the sign ended up there at some point in the hope the display lifts up the spirits of those who really need it.
“We want to highlight how wonderful the NHS is."