Despairing health staff failed again

Boris Johnson has so obviously failed us during this pandemic. Too little PPE early on, locking down too late, the shambles of Test and Trace – and now tiers of local restrictions so complex that not even he understands them.

And the PM only makes it worse when he addresses the nation to explain away his latest cock-up. All we hear is burble, burble, burble... wash your hands.

This has led to something not so obvious, but terrifyingly real, for up to 300,000 healthcare workers.

And that’s the psychological scars from battling an invisible serial killer, leaving many with PTSD and some on the verge of suicide.

As they still grieve for 500 colleagues killed in the first wave, they are being asked to risk their lives again as the second engulfs us.

Yet as they struggle with the stress of protecting us, too little is being done to protect them.

They need more than just the PM’s praise for their courage and self-sacrifice to arm themselves against the horrors to come.

NHS England has promised £15million in mental health support – yet five times more is needed. A mental trauma helpline open 24/7 to all NHS staff is a must.

Had the PM held a lessons-learned inquiry into the first wave of Covid- 19, healthcare workers would now be mentally better equipped for the second.

Mr Johnson has failed our NHS heroes once. He must act now if he is not to fail them again.