Great national round of applause for NHS staff
THE public has been asked to stand on doorsteps and on balconies later this week to pay tribute to NHS workers.
The show of appreciation is planned for Thursday at 8pm when organisers hope to emulate the astonishing scenes in Italy, Spain and France of millions applauding healthcare staff.
The ‘clap for our carers’ plan was widely shared on social media yesterday and quickly backed by cel ebrit i es i ncluding s i nger Cheryl, actress Lisa Riley and Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan.
It comes as thousands of medical students volunteered to help doctors and nurses with childcare so they can continue to work on the front line.
Some final- year medical students have been allowed to graduate early to help the overstretched health service, but younger year groups have been frustrated by their inability to offer any help.
However, students whose exams and work placements have been cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak have pooled their resources to form a network called National Health Supporters.
The idea emerged on a local Facebook group in Edinburgh early last week but has snowballed into a directory of almost 15,000 clinicians and students in every corner of the UK.
Joe Wilson, a fourth year medical student at Oxford University, said: ‘The response has been phenomenal. Doctors, nurses and other NHS staff have really been taken aback at the generosity of students and how willing they are to put themselves out there and help where they can.’
Meanwhile, a video of hospital staff dancing to Olly Murs’s Dance With Me Tonight has gone viral after two nurses posted it online.
The clip of the theatre team at Basildon Hospital has now been viewed 600,000 times on Twitter and 33,000 on Facebook.