Grief & fear taken its toll DR ROSENA ALLIN-KHAN

WE have been living through the most extraordinary 18 months of our lives and for many people life is slowly starting to get back to normal.

They are taking holidays abroad, seeing friends and loved ones and going back to the office. Sadly though, this simply isn’t the case for everyone.

Many have lost their loved ones, relatives have been buried without families present and partners ushered into the back of ambulances never to be seen again.

On the frontline – while working 12-hour shifts at London’s St George’s Hospital during the pandemic – I have helped children say goodbye to their loved ones on an ipad over Zoom. It is heartbreaking and a type of grief that none of us was prepared for.

This virus has stripped the humanity out of grieving. Then there is the fear. Fear of catching the virus and the fear of spreading it to those we love. Too many people didn’t want to trouble the NHS in the early days of the pandemic and are now arriving in A&E with conditions that are too far gone.

Those who tried to get appointments are facing the longest waiting times for treatment in the history of our NHS – all after a decade of decline of our public services at the hands of the Conservatives.

The impact this has on people’s mental health cannot be downplayed. That is before we look at the growing waiting times for mental health services.

With so many people saying their mental health has got worse during the pandemic and more parents saying their children’s mental health has been affected, it is easy to see the lasting impact that Covid-19 will have on the country’s mental health.