What happens now the clapping has stopped?
In the distant echo of that weekly national tribute, are the heroes to be forgotten apart from a cursory thanks for doing their job?
We reveal today that up to a quarter of a million nurses may be considering walking away from the vocation to which they gave so much but for which they look like receiving so little.
For the first time, pay is figuring in the calculations of dedicated people whose motivation is to care for others.
For them, the sacrifices have simply become unsustainable.
They should not have to wait until next year to see their efforts rewarded.
Financial hardship is one dimension of the adversities which go with the job of our NHS heroes. Less visible, and more difficult to measure, is the mental hardship.
The toll has been enormous, leaving many stressed and exhausted after 12-hour days, or more, working in full PPE in high temperatures, dealing with the daily deaths of victims.
No wonder that for some the clapping had a hollow ring.
Just as for the heroes of real wars, some of the NHS workers face the potentially life-threatening experience of post-traumatic stress disorder.
It is a bleak prospect as the health service prepares for a possible second wave.
The Barts Charity initiative, which has raised £3million to help protect the mental health of staff, illustrates the need.
It also highlights a national need for similar schemes – with Government help.
It’s not all over when the clapping stops.
Boris risks a clip
On yer bike!, says Boris. His exhortation to get the nation fit echoes Margaret Thatcher’s “bovver boy” Norman Tebbit.
That was his command to the jobless when unemployment was last on its way to around three million.
Now Boris wants GPs to prescribe bikes on the NHS.
If the Government can’t get the economic wheels turning again after the Covid crisis, voters may puncture his inflated ego with a blunt message:
On yer bike yerself Boris.
