Coronavirus: Care assistant becomes 24th Filipino front line worker to die with COVID-19
Written by News on 20/05/2020
A “gentle and calming” healthcare assistant has become the 24th Filipino NHS worker to die with COVID-19.
Carlos Sia, who worked at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital, died on Friday after spending several weeks in intensive care there.
The 62-year-old had worked at the hospital for five years and was originally from Bacolod City in the Philippines.
It is claimed Filipinos are the nationality with the highest coronavirus death rate of staff across the NHS and care services.
Official figures indicate there are about 18,500 Filipinos working for the NHS in England as of March 2019, roughly 1.5% of the estimated 1.2 million workforce.
It is thought about 16% of the 180 NHS health and care workers who have died during the pandemic have been Filipinos – of which there are more than 200,000 living in the UK.
Mr Sia’s wife, Cindy, is a healthcare assistant and his daughter, Clair, is a stroke nurse, both working at the same hospital.
In a letter to staff at the NHS Trust that runs the hospital Mr Sia worked at, chief executive Matthew Hopkins said: “Carlos’s quiet, gentle and respectful nature, his generosity of spirit, his sense of humour and his calming influence also made him popular with patients.
“We have lost a valued member of our trust family – and in Carlos’s case, the word ‘family’ has a special relevance as his wife Cindy works on Avon 2 as a healthcare assistant and his daughter Clair is a nurse on our acute stroke unit.
“Cindy and Clair are particularly in our thoughts at this sad time, as are all Carlos’s colleagues who worked alongside him and those who cared for him through his illness.”
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The healthcare assistant’s colleagues have been offered specialist support from the trust.
Mr Sia also has three sons who live in the Philippines.
The Philippines’ ambassador to the UK has called for NHS workers to be “properly protected”.
Antonio Lagdameo said: “I urge the NHS to ensure that those heroes who put their lives on the line for all of us are properly protected and equipped as they do their job.”
(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Care assistant becomes 24th Filipino front line worker to die with COVID-19
