One-minute silence on Workers’ Memorial Day
We are all very grateful to all the frontline staff in health and social care.
A one-minute silence for the frontline health and social care workers lost to the Coronavirus has been scheduled for 28 April.
The minute’s silence, which coincides with International Workers’ Memorial Day, will allow everyone to pay their respects and give thanks for the lives of those whose work involved caring, saving lives, keeping key services running and the rest of the country safe.
Three health unions, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives and UNISON, who together represent more than a million NHS and public service workers, including porters, refuse collectors and care staff are urging politicians, employers, people at work and those on lockdown at home to join the tribute at 11am.
The BBC reported has that the Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the government was ‘actively looking at the idea’.
Flags at the Royal College of Nursing’s headquarters will be flown at half-mast in tribute.
As of the afternoon of 20 April, the number of staff who have died surpassed 100 – although the true figure is likely to be higher as not all deaths are in the public domain.
NursingNotes has worked alongside the family, friends, and colleagues of those who have died to ensure every health and social care worker lost due to COVID-19 is recognised and their figure includes staff from a wide range of roles including doctors, nurses, allied healthcare professionals, social care workers, ancillary staff and students.
To date government figures suggest 49 NHS staff have died from COVID-19 during the pandemic.
NursingNotes has also set up a digital tribute and memorial to those who gave their lives during the fight against COVID-19, and has is committed to planting a new tree in a protected forest for every single health and social care worker who loses their lives in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Andrea Sutcliffe CBE, Chief Executive and Registrar for the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), said: “I am deeply saddened by the death of each and every member of the health and care community as a result of Covid-19.
“On behalf of everyone at the NMC, we are very grateful to all of the nurses and midwives on our register and their colleagues in health and social care, who have worked so hard to keep us safe but have been so tragically lost.
“They will be sorely missed by their family, friends and colleagues and we offer our sincerest sympathy and condolences. May they rest in peace.”
Coronavirus death toll in UK twice as high as official figure https://www.ft.com/content/67e6a4ee-3d05-43bc-ba03-e239799fa6ab