Jordan Henderson’s warning about Covid’s toll on mental health of NHS staff needs heeding after Liverpool footballer visits Wakefield paramedics – The Yorkshire Post says

There are no magic cures – staff shortages, and financial pressures, had left hospitals ill-equipped to meet the needs of an ageing population before Covid struck.

Liverpool Captain Jordan Henderson says trauma of pandemic will stay with NHS staff ‘forever’ after meeting Yorkshire paramedics

However people are still contracting the virus and, in some tragic cases, dying from Covid – the only difference is that the Ukraine war is dominating the daily news agenda. Nearly two years after Boris Johnson placed Britain in lockdown for the first time, it is imperative that families take precautions against Covid – and also respect those NHS staff battling exhaustion as waiting lists grow by the day.

This was highlighted with great compassion by Jordan Henderson, the captain of Liverpool Football Club, during a heartwarming visit to Wakefield to meet – and thank – Yorkshire Ambulance Service staff for their commitment.

He is the footballer who was the driving force behind the #PlayersTogether initiative that invited professional players to donate part of their salary to the NHS’s Covid-19 Urgent Appeal.

But Henderson is continuing to make his mark off the pitch as an ambassador for NHS Charities Together, the organisation which raises funds for more than 240 NHS charities.

He is acutely aware from experience – some of his relatives work for the NHS – how Covid has taken its toll on the care sector and that Britain has a societal duty to provide staff with appropriate support. “What they’ve been through over the last couple of years is a trauma that’s going to stay with them forever,” he adds.

This newspaper concurs. What the NHS does not need, at this moment, is a bucketful of unhealthy scorn. What it needs is support – and investment – from the top to help prepare frontline medical staff for the next health challenge.

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