REPORTING FOR DUTY: Easy Jet and Virgin Cabin Crew to work in NHS Nightingale Hospitals

As Easy Jet announced the grounding of its entire fleet this morning and Virgin virtually grind to a halt it was great to hear that cabin crew from the two airlines will join doctors and nurses at the new Nightingale hospitals built to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Staff at Virgin Atlantic and EasyJet have been invited to volunteer at the new 4,000-bed clinic being built at the ExCel centre in east London, plus at those planned in Birmingham and Manchester, their salaries will continue to be paid by the airlines, the NHS has said.

It is a requirement of the airline industry that cabin be trained in first aid, as cabin crew across the world have been grounded, and countries close their borders, it leaves thousands of potentially really usefull staff available to help NHS staff.

EasyJet has already written to its 9,000 UK-based staff including 4,000 cabin crew trained in CPR to invite them to give their time to the NHS.

Virgin Atlantic will begin writing to 4,000 of its employees on Monday and will prioritise getting in touch with those who already have the required skills.

Those who join up will be given expert training and will then perform support roles such as changing beds under the guidance of trained nurses.

St John’s Ambulance have already said that hundreds of people will give their time at the first Nightingale hospital in London.