The coronavirus pandemic has been a challenge for us all, and we have had to make many sacrifices and changes to the way we live.
Our frontline key workers have been the heroes of this pandemic, selflessly working on the front line to keep us all fed by stocking supermarket shelves, keeping us all safe by policing our communities, and saving lives through our incredible NHS.
During lockdown, most of us stood outside our front doors to clap for our frontline key workers, including in our NHS, while children painted pictures in support of our key workers and NHS to stick on their windows. I recently visited our hospital in Colchester to provide my personal praise to our NHS heroes who have worked there under the most difficult of circumstances during this pandemic.
It was also a pleasure to hold a productive meeting with the Chief Executive of the Trust, Nick Hulme, where we discussed how the Trust has performed so far during the pandemic and both the challenges and opportunities going forward. I have already raised these with the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, this afternoon and look forward to hearing from him in the near future.