'I go in and I make them feel happy' - the Royal Bolton Hospital Covid worker keeping spirits high at work and online
A hospital health care worker has been praised online as an 'NHS hero' after he was spotted sashaying out of a ward.
Craig Richardson was filmed by ITV Granada Reports as we toured the hospital looking at the impact of Covid-19.
The unintentional star was quickly spotted by viewers, with one calling him a "little ray of light in these dark times".
The clip was shared on social media sites including Tik Tok and Twitter - with one tweet reaching more than 801,000 views and 65,500 likes.
Craig started at the Royal Bolton Hospital a year ago, but quickly became known as the colleague to make staff, and patients, laugh.
Speaking of his patients he says: "They all love it, I go in and I make them feel happy and stuff, we hydrate them and we make them feel better. We don't know what's what and what's coming next do we really."
In response to the now infamous video on Twitter he wrote:
Social media users have been quick to compare Craig to those on BBC Three's RuPaul Drag Race, with many tagging the namesake host of the show, fellow judge Michelle Visage and other contestants.
WHY WAS GRANADA REPORTS IN THE ROYAL BOLTON HOSPITAL?
The Granada Reports filming formed part of access into the Royal Bolton Hospital, one of the region's busiest hospitals, where staff said the care they are able to give patients is suffering because they are so stretched by Covid.
The hospital - which invited us in - serves a large catchment area, and on top of normal winter pressures it is dealing with the huge strain of the pandemic.
With little more than masks and gowns the staff are trying to keep Covid at bay, providing unrelenting care to those scared and gasping for breath.
Craig says, less than a month after moving from his job in a care home to the hospital, it began to take in Covid patients, making the job "dramatically different".