Matt Hancock ‘open’ to national day of recognition for NHS staff on Covid-19 frontlines

Call for recognition comes after unions demand government end platitudes and boost NHS staff's pay packets

Matt Hancock applauds during the opening of the NHS Nightingale Hospital in April (REUTERS)

The health secretary has said he would be “open” to the idea of a national day of recognition for NHS staff and key workers in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

Applauding those working on the frontlines of the nation’s coronavirus response became a weekly event during the height of lockdown - with people across the country taking to their gardens, windows and balconies to clap for carers.

The applause - often accompanied by drummed pots and pans as well as fireworks, followed on from similar claps elsewhere in the world including Spain and India.

Now Matt Hancock has said he would be "absolutely open" to creating a national day of recognition for NHS and key workers to stand in its place.

Responding to Janet Darby, the Labour MP for Lewisham East who proposed the event in the commons after one of her constituents started a petition signed by more than 105,000 people, he said he was particularly struck by the organic nature by which applause had sprung up across the country during the worst days of the UK’s outbreak.

"I'll certainly look at it. It seems like a very interesting idea”, Mr Hancock said of creating an official day for those who responded to the virus during lockdown.

"I think Clap for our Carers was an absolutely brilliant initiative, I love the fact that it was essentially... a social initiative, it didn't come from Government, we embraced it enthusiastically and all went out clapping, as did everybody.

"And a way to mark that permanently is something that I'm absolutely open to."

It comes as union officials call for the government to move away from applause and platitudes and begin the work of giving NHS staff a pay rise.

Elsewhere in France the government is to spend more than €8bn (£7.2bn) to provide health workers with cash in thanks for their efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.

Unite national officer for health, Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe, said: “Warm words of praise by ministers and the weeks of Thursday evening clapping by a grateful nation are only part the story – and that’s why a generous pay rise is required to repair the damage of the last decade when pay in real terms was eroded by an estimated 20 per cent.