NHS and care staff felt under-appreciated when the weekly doorstep clap was taking place in the pandemic, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has heard.
Kate Bell, of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said “claps don’t pay the bills” and explained that healthcare staff felt people could not understand the scale of what workers were experiencing as the virus ripped through hospitals and care homes.
Ms Bell told the hearing that while the feeling did not quite amount to resentment, the clapping – which then-prime minister Boris Johnson took part in outside Downing Street – came against a backdrop of pay and conditions “not being recognised” by the Government.
Inquiry counsel Andrew O’Connor KC said: “One other theme that comes through from this passage and also from some others in your statement is a feeling amongst care workers and NHS workers of something close to resentment at the public clapping during the pandemic.