Tesco has started work on its first pop-up store inside the new NHS Nightingale Hospital at the NEC in Birmingham, the supermarket has said.

The pop-up store is expected to be open within two weeks, with bosses in discussions with the NHS for other sites.

Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis said: “As part of our continued commitment to support and thank those in the NHS for all they are doing, we began work on Sunday on our first dedicated NHS Nightingale Hospital pop-up store, at the NEC in Birmingham.

“Following an idea from Public Health England, we will be providing NHS staff with on-site 24 hour access to the food and household products they need. Construction at the NEC started yesterday (Sunday) and we aim to be open by the end of next week.”

The move comes as the UK’s biggest supermarket said stock restrictions are being eased, as panic buying slows.

Tesco said it would remove the purchase limit of three items per customer, except for certain items, including toilet rolls and eggs.

Limits remain on toilet rolls and paper goods, household and personal cleaning products including hand sanitisers, packets and tins of food, including pasta and rice, fresh eggs and home baking ingredients.