It’s hard to know where to begin… what a time it has been and will continue to be. Everything turned upside down. Tranquility where there was turmoil, confusion where there was certainty.

Every news bulletin brings a new story and a new facet to the crisis.

At the beginning of the year, my mum was admitted to Leicester Royal Infirmary and subsequently the Glenfield Hospital.

A helpless observer at her bedside, I watched the staff at work, at first in the Intensive Care Unit and later the recovery wards.

The ICU staff were remarkable, as they calmly and methodically went through the process to stabilise her condition and to move her to the next stage of her recovery – which indeed they did.

Their work undertaken with great kindness, patience and gentle humour. Wonderful, lovely people and tender in years to my old eyes.

Sitting as a helpless observer, I felt my instinct to capture them working with my pen and watercolours. I couldn’t help myself… in my head I followed the lines, the colours and movement.

Of course it wasn’t possible, but the image of the doctors and nurses working together has been with me ever since.

At the start of the Lockdown, the BBC made two programmes about the Royal Free Hospital in London, a huge hospital that specialises in contagious diseases.

The programmes follow members of staff and patients through the early days of the disease. The staff show the exact same qualities that I experienced with my mum at Leicester.

The programmes were shown this week. I began to draw and then cry as all the memories flooded back. I am still a helpless observer waiting and watching as they work so hard. I guess we all are.

The one thing I can do, we all can do is say ‘Thank you’ and pay tribute as much as we can.

These are my drawings based on the programme as a small tribute to all healthcare workers and carers, who are just brilliant. Thank you!

Stay safe and stay well