After an extremely busy few weeks and declaring a major incident, staff at St Peter's Hospital's accident and emergency department were surprised by a gift of two hampers.

Surrey Comet:

A church group decided to put together the hampers to thank the staff for their hard work, and sent them in on the evening of Tuesday, January 6.

Ashford and St Peter's chief nurse Heather Caudle said: "This was a fantastic display of community spirit and support by the Jubilee Church during a really tough time. Our staff have been working so hard and continue to as the pressure continues of the hospitals and NHS services.

"This delivery of hampers to our A&E department at St Peter's Hospital was a very much welcomed gift to help keep the staff's energy levels up and to keep them going."

Tim James, from Ashford, a member of Jubilee Church, Shepperton, came up with the idea.

He said: "I heard in the national news that Ashford and St Peter's were on major incident and so I could imagine how that was for staff. So I got thinking about the major incident knowing that healthcare staff would be going the extra mile for the patients amid the chaos.

"Therefore I wondered who would go the extra mile for the staff?"

Mr James and his two daughters bought some snacks and fruit alongside tea, coffee and soft drinks, some other members of the congregation made the hampers look eye catching and they were delivered within 10 hours of the idea being born.

Members of the congregation thought Ashford Hospital might feel left out so they put together and delivered two more hampers to the Ashford Walk-in Centre on Wednesday, January 14.