Nov 2021

Intensive Care Unit Nurse Hirah Ahmed “I’ve never seen so much death and then not had time to process it. I can’t unsee it now. When you see people die en masse as a nurse you feel worthless, and like you can’t do anything to help. People have called us heroes, but we weren’t mentally prepared for this”.
These portraits were for Grazia’s Christmas charity appeal for Duty To Care who help support nurses and doctors in the NHS, to deal with the trauma and mental stress of the pandemic.
Hirah said that so many of her colleagues were leaving the NHS due to stress, long hours and insulting pay rises. Added to that, the loss of many NHS professionals, forced to leave because of Brexit, has increased the burden on those still working in the NHS. It seems that this is part of the governments plan to erode and then privatise the NHS.