IN PRAISE OF OUR NHS HEROES

 Victoria Hume was working as a A&E nurse at Maidstone Hospital after answering the call for people to return to the NHS.

But after only a week, the 42-year-old was struck down with Covid-19 and is self-isolating at home. She left the NHS to run Maidstone Aesthetics, a private clinic she set up and says she doesn’t believe she caught the virus in hospital as there is lots of PPE.

Refusing to be beaten, she added: “As long as I’m fit and able, I should be fine to go back just after the bank holiday weekend.”

 A nurse who is back working in the NHS has launched a

Hero of the Day social media campaign. Sarah Diamond is one of the 20,000 NHS staff who has returned to work to help in the coronavirus crisis.

But in addition to her new duties, the Deal mum-of-one is also using her social media account for a ‘Hero of the

Day’ campaign, praising those working in the thick of the pandemic.  Heartfelt thanks have come from a patient nursed back to health after coronavirus led to her suffering from pneumonia.

Tunbridge Wells poet and writer, Sarah Salway, had nothing but praise for medical staff at the Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury.

The 59-year-old said: “I felt too poorly to think about what was happening to me. Every time the nursing staff had to come into my room they had to protect themselves with masks and aprons but they were so professional and caring. They treated me like a human, even when I could barely speak.”

 After 40 years of service, a former consultant midwife had been enjoying retirement.

But Sarah Gregson is also a registered nurse andisbackat the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells trust.

She said: “I couldn’t bear to watch this unfold and not try to do my bit.”

She’s completed three maternity shifts so far and has gone through training in case she is deployed back into a nursing role.