Tributes paid to three more nurses as NHS death toll rises

Tributes have been paid to three more nurses who died due to Covid-19, with more than 20 NHS staff now thought to have died with the virus.

On Saturday, Central and North West London (CNWL) NHS Foundation Trust confirmed Sara Trollope, a nurse employed by the trust, had died at Watford General Hospital after testing positive for Covid-19.

Mrs Trollope had worked at Hillingdon Hospital and has been praised for her empathy and support for older people with dementia.

Unbeatable combination of kindness, selflessness and total determination

Paying tribute to the mother-of-four, medical director Dr Paul Hopper said: “Sara had that unbeatable combination of kindness, selflessness and total determination to get things right for patients. She was an example to every one of us.”

It comes after Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust confirmed the death of a nurse who was self-isolating due to Covid-19 symptoms.

Julie Omar, 52, was an experienced nurse who had been working at Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital.

Trust chief executive Matthew Hopkins said: “It is with great sorrow that I have to share with you the sad news that a much-loved member of our nursing team – Julie Omar – has died.”

“Tragic loss”

Nurse Gareth Roberts, who had been a nurse since the 1980s, was also confirmed to have died after testing positive for the virus, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said.

Two porters at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford were also confirmed to have died.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said on Saturday that both men were married to nursing staff at the hospital.

Dr Bruno Holthof, chief executive officer, and Sir Jonathan Montgomery, chair of the Trust, said: “This tragic loss of our two colleagues touches us all.

“We are a team and every single member of our team is precious. We all need each other and we stand together in honouring the memories of our colleagues.”

“My heart goes out to their families”

On Saturday morning, Health Secretary Matt Hancock paid tribute to those who had died, then announcing a total of 19 deaths.

He said: “My heart goes out to their families, these are people who have put themselves on the front line.

“The work is going on to establish whether they caught coronavirus in the line of duty while at work or whether, like so many other people, caught it in the rest of their lives.”

Fatalities in full

• A nurse based at St Cross Hospital in Rugby, who the trust are not identifying, died of suspected Covid-19.
• Elsie Sazuze, a care home nurse who worked for Wolverhampton-based agency Totallycare, died this week, the agency confirmed.
• Aintree University Hospital said staff nurse Liz Glanister died on Friday April 3.
• Nurse Areema Nasreen, 36, died on April 2 in intensive care at Walsall Manor Hospital in the West Midlands – where she had worked for 16 years.
• Nurse Aimee O’Rourke, 39, died at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital (QEQMH) in Margate, Kent, where she worked, on Thursday.
• Rebecca Mack, 29, died on Sunday after going into self-isolation with coronavirus symptoms.
• Donald Suelto, who worked at Hammersmith Hospital in west London, died after going into self-isolation with coronavirus symptoms, a friend and fellow NHS nurse said.
• The Mail on Sunday reported that 27-year-old nurse John Alagos – who treated coronavirus patients at Watford General Hospital – died after a shift on Friday April 3.
• Nurse Alice Kit Tak Ong, 70, passed away on Tuesday, her daughter said.
• Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex on Sunday announced the death of 54-year-old midwife Lynsay Coventry while Janice Graham, a 58-year-old healthcare support worker in Scotland, died on Monday.
• Healthcare assistant Thomas Harvey, 57, a father-of-seven who worked at Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford, east London, died at home on March 29.
• Another healthcare assistant, Glen Corbin, 59, had worked at the Park Royal Centre for Mental Health in Harlesden, north-west London, for more than 25 years.
• Dr Habib Zaidi, 76, a GP in Leigh-on-Sea, died in intensive care at Southend Hospital, Essex, on March 25.
• Amged El-Hawrani, an ear, nose and throat consultant with University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB), died at the Glenfield Hospital in Leicester on March 28.
• Dr Alfa Saadu, 68, who had returned to work from retirement, died on Monday at the Whittington Hospital in north London.
• Transplant surgeon Adil El Tayar, 63, died at West Middlesex University Hospital in Isleworth, west London, on March 25.
• Professor Sami Shousha, 79, who had worked at UK cancer research laboratories at London’s Hammersmith and Charing Cross hospitals since 1978, died on April 2.
• Consultant geriatrician Anton Sebastianpillai, who had a long association with Kingston Hospital in south-west London, died on April 4.
• Consultant urologist Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, 53, who wrote a Facebook post asking Prime Minister Boris Johnson to urgently provide every NHS worker with PPE, died on Wednesday night.
• Dr Edmond Adedeji, 62, who worked as a locum registrar in the emergency department of Great Western Hospital in Swindon, Wiltshire, died on April 8.
• Jitendra Rathod, an associate specialist in cardio-thoracic surgery at the University Hospital of Wales, died on Monday morning.
• GP Fayez Ayache, 76, died in Ipswich Hospital on April 8.
• Another family doctor, Syed Haider, who worked in Dagenham east London, died in hospital on Monday after it is believed he developed coronavirus symptoms.
• Patient discharge planner Barbara Moore, 54, died on Monday, the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said.

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