Communities across Kent have rallied together to show their support for the NHS by raising money for hospitals and their staff.

From crowdfunding pages to collections and donations, charitable causes have been set up to support key workers as the number of confirmed cases continues to rise.

In Gillingham, the Medway Hospital Charity started its online crowdfinding page with the hope of raising £5,000.

It has since smashed this target and is hoping to use the money to create care packages to support the emotional and physical wellbeing of its frontline staff at the Medway Maritime Hospital.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW) also has a charity working around the clock since the virus took hold.

A JustGiving page has raised more than £2,500 towards its target already.

MTW hope to use the money to provide emergency funds to help with the everyday challenges the staff are facing.

But its not just hospitals and their charities raising money, members of the public are also doing their bit to help.

Miss Gravesham has been rallying up the communities of Gravesend and Dartford to support doctors and nurses at the Darrent Valley Hospital.

Jessica Tuffield, a 24-year-old Sepsis survivor, took to Facebook with the hope of gathering donations of food, drinks and treats for the staff rooms.

Jessica's Facebook appeal said: "Doctors and nurses are going to be working double or even triple shifts if Italy is anything to go by and they will be looking after us, the people of our community

"Our NHS staff may only get a moment to themselves and I personally thought it could be a good idea to rally up some goods for them to have in their staff rooms!"

Jessica's appeal has seen donations from big names such as Sainsbury's, John Lewis, Waitrose, The Body Shop and Marks and Spencer.

A childminder has also raised more than £1,500 for staff at Darent Valley Hospital to have a meal during this stressful period.

Tara Biggs from Singlewell, Gravesend, set up the Go Fund Me page and reached her target of £600 in just a few days.

So far the 30-year-old has managed to buy almost every ward a meal from the pizza chain Domino's.

A senior sister working in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Maidstone Hospital has also been busy gathering dontations of disposable slippers.

Gail Lucas started the campaign to minimise cross contamination while the ICU staff care for Covid-19 patients.

The 47-year-old said: "We have had a wonderful response to the slippers and offers from a few organisations from across the county.

"Staff wouldn't normally need these slippers but we wish to use them to minimise the risk of cross contamination from areas of isolation to other parts of the hospital.

"In other words staff will be leaving shoes in contaminated areas and using the slippers when leaving for toilet or lunch breaks. This is vital in stopping the spread of Covid-19."

Gail has also set up a Go Fund Me page to buy ad hoc items the ICU staff may need over the coming weeks.

This fundraiser also beat its target of £500 in a matter of days.

To top it all off, an Ashford doctor has raised more than a million pounds to get frontline NHS workers vital protective gear.

Dr Salaj Masand, who works in General Adult Medicine at the William Harvey Hospital, helped set up a crowdfunding campaign aimed at curbing the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) being experienced across the NHS.

This figure was helped along by one of the world's top actors, James McAvoy who personally donated £275,000.

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