Politics

MP Nadia Whittome returns to care worker job to help with coronavirus crisis



The UK’s youngest MP Nadia Whittome has returned to her former job as a care worker to help with the coronavirus crisis.

The Nottingham East MP said she will donate the salary receives from her part-time role at ExtraCare in Nottingham to a local Covid-19 support fund.

The 23-year-old said: “I am returning part-time to my previous job as a care worker because social care is already in crisis and the care system is in serious danger of falling apart at the seams during the Covid-19 pandemic.


“Care workers work tirelessly to support communities, yet rarely receive recognition and pay that reflects their contribution.”

The NHS has called for retirees and former health workers to return to their previous roles during the outbreak and Health Secretary Matt Hancock said around 7,500 have done so as of Monday.

Last week, MP Maria Caulfield announced she was returning to her job as a nurse  alongside her political role.

The MP for Lewes in East Sussex said she was returning to nursing because “the NHS will be getting unprecedented numbers of patients needing care, but also because staff are liable to get sick themselves.” 

Ms Caulfield, who used to work at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Brompton, says her former colleagues in the NHS are working long hours.

She added: “They can only go at 110% pace for so long and will need breaks themselves.

“I am very happy to use that time to help those who are ill during this time.

“I have got all my training for that hospital. I have still got that uniform.

“For me it’s very easy to get back into the swing of things, others will need more help to do that.”

With the coronavirus crisis escalating every day, Ms Caulfield said she was granted an exception from the ministerial code to go back to work and said Prime Minister Boris Johnson was “very supportive” of her decision.



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