Coronavirus: Worcestershire NHS healthcare worker dies

Hospital staff are being offered support and counselling following a colleague's death

A healthcare assistant and "true NHS hero" has died from coronavirus at the same hospital where he worked.

Carlos Sia, 62, was cared for by colleagues at Royal Worcestershire Hospital for several weeks before he died on Friday.

The trust that runs the site said Mr Sia's wife Cindy and daughter Clair worked at the hospital and were "in our thoughts at this sad time".

Trust boss Matthew Hopkins added Mr Sia was "much loved by his colleagues".

He said: "His quiet, gentle and respectful nature, his generosity of spirit, his sense of humour and his calming influence also made him popular with patients."

Mr Sia worked on Avon 2, an elderly care ward, and had been with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust for five years.

His wife is a healthcare assistant in elderly care and his daughter a nurse on the Acute Stroke Unit.

Fritzie Darlene, a family friend who has set up a fundraising page towards funeral costs, said Mr Sia also leaves three sons in the Philippines.

She described him as a "true NHS hero".

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Mr Hopkins said trust staff who worked closely with Mr Sia were offered support over the weekend.

The funeral of Jodon Gait, a healthcare assistant at the same hospital who died while self-isolating with coronavirus symptomsw, is being live streamed from Evesham for his friends and family unable to attend because of current restrictions.

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