Hailing All Our Hurting Heroes

Country thanking its key workers. Front line mental toll is revealed

- Matt Roper, Adam Aspinall And Martin Fricker

LONDON Staff at Chelsea & Westminster

As the nation once again clapped for carers last night, the terrible toll the coronavirus fight is taking on our frontline NHS workers’ mental health was revealed.

Hundreds of thousands joined the eighth weekly celebration of the nation’s heroes – but mental health charity the Laura Hyde Foundation said increasing numbers are suffering problems so acute they need clinical treatment.

The charity, which provides support to medical and emergency services staff, said it had seen an 88% spike in calls from frontline workers who where presenting symptoms of serious conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

It claimed many NHS trusts don’t provide adequate mental health support for staff, while many workers fear reprisals from bosses if they admit they are not coping.

BUCKS Family banged their saucepans

So far more than 160 frontline NHS and care workers have died during the pandemic.

In Clacton-on-Sea hundreds lined the streets to pay their respects to “superhuman” GP Dr Karamat Ullah Mirza, who died from Covid-19 after serving his community for decades. The 84-year-old, who came to the UK in 1966, had “enormous determination”, his wife Estelle Mirza said. “He would fight to the end of the Earth for his patients and was so dedicated to them.”

They were married for 48 years. In Derby, family and friends paid tribute to Norman Austria, 61, who passed away on Wednesday after several weeks of battling the disease.