Cut through the noise by getting the day's biggest stories sent direct to your inbox It was in the early hours of his birthday in November last year when Carl Flynn got the call. “We’ve got you a heart,” said the transplant co-ordinator.
In normal pre-Covid times, hearing those words would be a monumental moment, but during a pandemic lockdown they took on even greater meaning, and risk, for Carl, 32.
Many patients had been removed from the transplant list, or transplant programmes closed, during the peak of the Covid crisis as it was riskier to carry out the complex procedures and NHS resources were under extra pressure. READ MORE: Clinically extremely vulnerable have been advised to stay away from unvaccinated people and socialise