Coronavirus: National memorial to honour NHS workers who died during pandemic
Written by News on 30/05/2020
Plans for a national memorial to honour emergency workers have been significantly changed because the coronavirus pandemic, Sky News can reveal.
The design for the monument now includes a frontline hospital figure wearing scrubs and a protective face visor.
The charity behind the project says it felt it was “important to reflect the unprecedented situation” and honour all the “brave men and women who’ve lost their lives trying to help others”.
More than 180 NHS staff are known to have died with COVID-19 in the UK in recent months.
Sculptor Philip Jackson has been working on the memorial’s design for more than a year.
His previous work includes statues of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother on The Mall in London, and Bobby Moore outside Wembley Stadium.
He told Sky News: “Because of what has happened with this dreadful pandemic, we decided that the NHS side of the monument should be reinforced with a secondary figure.
“So the paramedic now has a companion in the nurse-doctor figure.”
It’s hoped the finished bronze monument will stand at almost 20ft tall and be situated in central London.
Mr Jackson showed a mock-up model to Sky News at his studio in West Sussex, admitting that the current crisis meant he “can’t help but be emotionally involved”.
Plans for a national emergency services memorial – dubbed the “999 Cenotaph” – have been in the pipeline since 2016.
Tom Scholes-Fogg, founder and chairman of the charity, says the original idea came from a conversation with his grandfather, who served for 30 years as a police officer, about the lack of a permanent tribute.
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He told Sky News: “This memorial is important, because it shows that we as a country can honour the incredible duty and sacrifice of the millions of men and women who have served in our emergency and health services.”
In addition to the hospital worker and paramedic, the four other figures on the design are to represent police, fire, maritime rescue, and search and rescue services.
A spaniel has also been included to represent all service animals.
Mr Scholes-Fogg added: “What we are seeing during this pandemic is the very best of all our emergency services… we’ve got to do something to honour those who put others before themselves.”
The British Medical Association (BMA) and Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have both welcomed the new plans.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, said: “Every death of a health and social care worker is a sobering reminder of how incredibly brave each of them was in the fight against this awful virus, risking their own and their families’ lives every day for the good of their patients.
“It is only right that they are properly honoured and remembered for their astonishing work, but thousands of frontline staff across the health service are still facing these dangers and it is imperative that they, like those they spend their lives caring for, are kept safe.”
A spokesperson for the RCN told Sky News that it’s “important the professionalism of nurses during this pandemic is recognised as they have worked tirelessly in treating their patients.”
It is estimated the project will cost at least £3m, funded through public donations.
Sculptor Philip Jackson is keen to see it built soon.
He said: “There is an urgency to get this started now. I’m ready to go immediately. If the money was in place, I’d start tomorrow.”
Next week from Monday to Thursday, Dermot Murnaghan will be hosting After the Pandemic: Our New World – a series of special live programmes about what our world will be like once the pandemic is over.
We’ll be joined by some of the biggest names from the worlds of culture, politics, economics, science and technology. And you can take part too.
If you’d like to be in our virtual audience – from your own home – and put questions to the experts, email afterthepandemic@sky.uk
(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: National memorial to honour NHS workers who died during pandemic
