Front line medical staff are facing 'insufferable' abuse from Covid-19 deniers and anti-vaxxers as they try to save the lives of patients struck down by the virus, a top nurse has told.
Nicki Credland, a leading emergency care nurse, also spoke out of the horror stories emerging from wards with one dying patient begging to receive a vaccine and a relative of a Covid patient hurling abuse at staff after not being allowed to visit them in hospital due to also having the disease.
Ms Credland, who works as a nurse in Hull as well as being a lecturer at the University of Hull, told of how abuse of staff was now part of the trauma they face every day as they brace for another influx of patients amid the rising Omicron variant crisis, as reported by Hull Live.
She also told radio host David Burns of BBC Radio Humberside that at least three quarters of coronavirus patients in intensive care were unvaccinated, including someone who pleaded for a jab before tragically dying days later.
The nurse said: "I'm watching and listening to what NHS staff are going through, the trauma that they're going through is insufferable, they're been shouted, sworn at and assaulted by the relatives of coronavirus patients who don't believe it exists."
Her comments come as concerns mount over the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, which public health officials have said is much more transmissible than earlier strains.
Ms Credland, also chair of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses, told the BBC she would support tougher restrictions to keep coronavirus patient numbers down in hospitals. She added the number of those in hospital would peak in mid-January if current trends continue as staff continue to face insufferable working conditions.
The nurse said: "I'd like to see more restrictions which is a very difficult thing to say at the moment because no one wants another Christmas like last year.
"But NHS staff are working unpaid overtime to keep the NHS going and not just for coronavirus patients but to all of them.
"I had a conversation with a colleague who works in a hospital in this country, they had a coronavirus patient who was being incubated in intensive care.
"They had a relative who wanted to visit them who was coronavirus positive, they should have been self-isolating.
"The abuse he gave to the intensive care staff was absolutely disgraceful.
"I understand that it's difficult, stressful and heartbreaking for families with relatives in intensive care, but we have to protect everyone.
"If you test positive for coronavirus you can't just say it doesn't exist, it doesn't work like that.
"I spoke to an intensive care unit charge nurse who said a young patient in their 30s was about to be incubated because of low oxygen levels.
"They were begging staff to have the vaccine, they hadn't had it before because they didn't believe coronavirus existed.
"They were ventilated and died two days later.
"It's really difficult to say what will happen with Omicron at the moment, that's not a cop-out answer it's a scientific one.
"We don't know if it'll be milder or not, but it's unlikely that it'll be significantly milder.
"What we are seeing is an exponential rise in cases around the country and the world, the fact cases are going up will lead to more hospitalisations.
"If we see things continue as they are doing then everyone in the country will catch coronavirus at some point.
"Even if the proportion of those with coronavirus who end up in hospital is small the numbers will still put significant pressure on the NHS.
"I cannot stress enough how important it is for people to have both vaccines and their booster.
"But we can't just rely on vaccines, masks will also protect you to a certain degree, they're a simple but effective public health measure."
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