It seems timely, during Mental Health Awareness week which focuses on kindness, that we would celebrate the work of the “Hubs in Tubs” initiative.

NHS Lothian and its official charity partner, Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation, are working together to prepare and deliver wellbeing boxes or “Hubs in Tubs” to hard working health and social care staff working in the community.

The aim of  the project sounds simple – deliver tubs of treats to health and social care partnership colleagues to help them take a moment to care for their own wellbeing such as candles, face masks and chocolates. However, the effort required to coordinate, organise and deliver such a large-scale project in the current climate was a significant undertaking.

Part of a wider wellbeing initiative, these boxes have been made possible thanks to funding from Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation through its NHS Lothian COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund, collaboration with NHS Lothian teams, as well as through generous donations from companies including British Airways, Friendly Soap, Doublebase, Cetraben, Hydromol, Diprobase, Epoderm KIND Snacks, RitterSport and BaxterStorey.

The tubs were packed in Comely bank, and our partners Network Rail will be delivering them this week throughout Edinburgh and the Lothians, with 51 tubs delivered to Edinburgh.

Judith Proctor, Chief Officer of the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership says:

“I am proud of the resilience and professionalism of our Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership staff across all of our services and it’s important we continue to recognise this hard work, whilst also reminding colleagues to be mindful of their own wellbeing during these challenging times. I’m delighted that we have been able to create and deliver Wellbeing ‘Hubs in Tubs’ across Edinburgh and the support offered by Network Rail in delivering the 51 tubs to teams throughout Edinburgh is fantastic.”