GP Dr Hilary on the toll the pandemic is taking on NHS workers and how we can look after own mental health

Dr Hilary says we need to keep perspective and be grateful for what we have - things we may have taken for granted before the pandemic - like food, ways to keep in touch, and kindness.

• NHS workers are going above and beyond - how is it affecting their mental health?

NHS workers are seeing things which are unprecedented - they're used to seeing sick and dying people, but they're not used to seeing such a rapid influx of patients struggling to breathe or with organ failure, and at such scale.

It's a full on job at the best of times, but there's very little time to take breaks, talk with colleagues, or share a joke.

There's little time to express emotions, so they build up, but they have to go somewhere. So often NHS workers are taking these emotions home with them - it's affecting their sleep, their energy levels, their appetite, and they may find it difficult or inappropriate to speak to family to off load.

So it's important they can talk to colleagues at some point, or the danger is burn out, particularly as this pandemic isn't going to go away immediately.

• Long term, what effect will the crisis have on the mental health of NHS workers?

The worst effect is burnout - a numbing of the emotions, and a feeling you can't make any difference. You run out of energy, of motivation, of passion, and we lose focus of what we're trying to achieve. We don't want these dedicated people to lose the will to continue doing what they're doing.

We need to enable them to release some of that pent up emotion, people need to shed a tear, they need to be able to have time to exercise and relax. Staff are good at talking to each other, and we're setting up common rooms where people can share experiences.

There are some apps which health care professionals can use, and by and large people are coping, but the longer this goes on, the more mental health casualties there will be.

• Are staff able to access support?

Sometimes they're just having to get through the job, as it's so urgent, but usually there are some lulls - we know the NHS has coped brilliantly and now there is a little breathing space.

It's really important that even the staff who are the biggest and toughest, mentally and physically, can say 'I need to offload'.

• We all like routine, this pandemic has affected us all physically and mentally - how do we recover?

We need to keep things in perspective. We are surrounded by bad news. Hundreds of thousands of cases have been recorded and many have lost their lives. But, there are thousands of clever people working on this, researchers, vaccine producers, doctors, and nurses.

We have to be grateful for things we might have taken for granted in the past.

Think about what we do have. We have a food supply which is working well. People are being very kind to each other. People can work from home and connect more easily.

When we're feeling a bit down, talk to somebody else, share our feelings, keep busy, look after our health, eat well, keep hydrated, don't overdo the alcohol.

We can stay sane and look towards the end, however far away it is.