Tributes to Sunderland nurse who has died after contracting COVID-19
Tributes have been paid to a Sunderland nurse who has lost her life as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Fiona Anderson, a community staff nurse at the Grindon Lane Primary Care Centre, lost her life on Sunday 26th April, after testing positive for COVID-19.
The South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust say Fiona devoted her life to helping others and joined the Trust in 2007. She worked as a staff nurse at Sunderland Royal Hospital and South Tyneside District Hospital before joining the community as a staff nurse in 2019.
Fiona's sister Sarah spoke to our reporter Amy Lea
Paying tribute to Fiona and on behalf of her community nursing colleagues, manager Kath Henderson said: “We are all absolutely devastated that we have lost our valued friend and colleague Fiona.
There are no words that can describe the loss we are all feeling but we take comfort in knowing just how much Fiona loved her job and how incredibly proud she was to be part of the community team and the important work we do caring for patients.
She brought pride and passion to her work every single day and made such an incredible difference in the lives of so many people in South Tyneside and Sunderland. We will miss you dearly Fiona and will think of you always.”
On Monday 27 April, the Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced the families of NHS and social care staff who die of coronavirus in the course of their "essential frontline work" will receive a £60,000 payment.
Mr Hancock, announcing the new "life assurance scheme", admitted "nothing replaces the loss of a loved one" but said the government wanted to do "everything that we can" to support families dealing with bereavement.
Read more: