Local GPs worked frontline shifts to help out overwhelmed NHS colleagues at Queen’s Hospital.

GPs Anil Mehta and Jagan John helped out colleagues caring for both Covid and non-Covid patients at the hospital in a challenging shift on January 2.

It’s planned that the support provided by these doctors, who are also respective chairs of the Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham Clinical Commissioning Groups, will continue with many more GPs lending their skills to help on the hospital frontline.

Donna Walker, consultant geriatrician at the trust, oversaw the two doctors as they helped out at two general medical wards.

She said: “Their support made a huge difference. It’s really tough on weekends, often I come home so exhausted I could cry and this was the first time I didn’t quite get to that point.

“What was really useful was their help as generalists, which allowed me to provide more high quality, specialist care to patients.

“They were also able to see where there are bottlenecks in the local healthcare system, so they can go away and look at community pathways and see where improvements can be made. This will improve care for our patients in the future. It was really good for them to see the pressures we are facing, and for us to have a fresh pair of eyes on the ward.”

Mr John said the two saw "first-hand" the "resilience and hard work of our hospital colleagues, including the amazing junior doctors."