Covid doctor's moving letter to 'cracked not broken' NHS

Dr Matt Morgan said NHS staff need time and support to recover from dealing with the pandemic

An intensive care consultant has written a moving open letter to NHS staff, describing them as "cracked but not broken".

Dr Matt Morgan, who works at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, read his letter on BBC Radio 4's Today on Friday morning.

Colleagues took to social media to thank him for having "captured our mood".

Dr Morgan said a "funded, engaged solution" is needed to help the NHS.

After writing an open letter to patients and their families earlier in the pandemic, "telling them that we will be there, we will hold their hand, we will care," he decided to write another for his exhausted colleagues.

• Doctor 'has shed more tears than ever' over Covid

• 'Broken' doctor speaks out against Covid 'deniers'

• NHS staff sickness having 'huge impact' on care

In it, he told staff: "You may be cracked, but not broken.

"You are still there. You still care. But now the helpers need help."

Describing the "scaffold smiles" to hide the pain of another long day at work, he advised worn-out NHS workers to "fill the cracks with life outside work, your family, your hobbies, with things that make you feel more like you".

He told BBC Wales he wrote the letter because "as the sprint of a pandemic turned into a marathon and now an ultramarathon, we need to care for those caring for others".

"I read about the Japanese art of Kintsugi, repairing broken things by filling cracks with precious metals. It made me realise one way to get through the tough times is to fill your own spaces with the glimmers of good a life in medicine can bring," he added.

'No quick fixes'

Staff need to focus on the "glimmers" of a life in medicine, says Dr Morgan

But this alone is not enough to support colleagues across the NHS still dealing with Covid and also the backlogs built up by lockdowns, Dr Morgan added.

"We need the time to repair, the support to repair and for the cracks to stop widening. There is only so much we can do ourselves, the rest lies in the hands of those with the tools to help," he said.

"There are no quick fixes and I think the public understand this. I have had some wonderful letters of thanks over the last two years.

"What we need from the government is sustained, long term honesty about the current situation and a funded, engaged solution so the NHS will be there for my children when they need it."