Top Midlands health official urges public to smile and thank health and care workers this Christmas
A top Nottingham health official has urged the public to "smile and just say thank you" to those working in the health and care sector this Christmas.
Dr Andrew Haynes, medical director for the Integrated Care System in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, told a health briefing: "Christmas is always a time when the public show their gratitude to health and care staff.
"This year, I guess, is going to be slightly different, I don't think there'll be so many chocolates and biscuits around that people can eat."
"But maybe if you know somebody who works in health and social care or you do contact someone from the health and care system, it would be great if you could give them a smile and just say thank you," he added.
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Dr Haynes continued: "In a difficult time those simple things make a huge difference to people at the cold face."
"And don't forget the secretaries, the porters, the people in the back offices, that you never see, without whom the frontline clinical services couldn't function.
"So it's just that plea to the public if they get that opportunity, please take it, because I know it will be appreciated by colleagues."
When asked by ITV News Central Correspondent Charlotte Cross about coronavirus mass testing in the community, Public Health Director of Nottingham, Alison Challenger, said they were evaluating what was best for the community and they have learned a lot from Liverpool.
Ms Chaloner confirmed that Nottingham has had its first delivery of lateral flow tests but now have to work out which communities to prioritise and which are most at risk, before adding that it's a "work in progress".
But Public Health Director of the county, Jonathan Gribbin, said there are logistical challenges of that kind of enterprise and the resource it demands.
Responding to Correspondent Charlotte Cross, Mr Gribbin said: "No, we're not at that point right now."
Meanwhile the Medical Director of Nottingham University Hospitals, Dr Keith Girling, told ITV News he has seen "very significant increases in critical care".
He said: "We've been under three or four weeks now of really sustained numbers of Covid patients.
"Very high numbers, higher than we saw in April and really very little change in those numbers over that period of time.
"And over the last two weeks particularly we have seen very significant increases in our critical care capacity."