A mother and daughter from Mitcham has teamed-up to thank hospital staff across south-west London. 

Jessica Edwards, 31, and her daughter Tamiyah Barbour, 9, decided to launch their chocolate bar campaign after watching 'exhausted' hospital staff on the news last week. 

Young Tamiyah asked her mother if she could send chocolate bars to the staff at St Georges Hospital after witnessing their hard work on the BBC.

"They are ordinary people like us but facing so much trauma on a daily basis- we just wanted to hug them," said Jessica.

MORE: St Georges Hospital staff 'overwhelmed'

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Originally the pair had hoped to receive enough donations to provide 100 chocolate bars to staff in Tooting, but had soon 'smashed' their target in just four days.

It was then that the mother and daughter set their sights on St Helier Hospital and after much success, they announced their plan to expand their campaign to Croydon University Hospital. 

MORE: 'Like a warzone’ - St Helier staff speak from the frontline

Their NHS chocolate bar campaign has been a big hit on Facebook - with many people offering a £2.50 donation which covers the cost of the bar and printing materials with a personalised message.

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Londis on Church Road and Asda Mitcham donated chocolate bars to support the campaign.

To date, the duo has distributed over 250 chocolate bars with numbers continuing to grow each day. 

Jessica Edwards said: "In December 2019, I was rushed into hospital heavily pregnant where we discovered I had a hereditary heart condition which killed my dad and almost killed my brother- the NHS were a big part of supporting me through this and still are.

"We saw the BBC news special behind the scenes at the covid ward and it was such a sad and emotional thing to see. 

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"The chocolate idea was to give a gift of energy in such an exhausting time but also to remind them that the community is behind them and how thankful we are.

She added: "This campaign has also helped our mental health a lot. My daughter suffers from severe anxiety and emotionally has gone through a lot- especially from when I fell ill.

"This has helped us keep busy and mentally distracted from all the negativity by doing something so positive.

"Involving the community enabled us to make this bigger and thank so much more of the amazing staff.

"The campaign was supposed to be just a small donation to my local hospital and ended up growing beyond that.

"We honestly cannot thank the community enough."

If you would like to donate a chocolate bar visit here. 

For campaign updates visit NHS Chocolate Bar Campaign.