A home care provider in Croydon has paid tribute to the "truly amazing" NHS frontline workers who have risked their lives to keep us safe during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Home care providers Bluebird joined thousands of people across the country in paying tribute to the NHS frontline nurses, doctors and other key workers who found themselves thrust into the heart of the battle against the spread of Covid-19 since its arrival in the UK early last year.

Joining in with heartfelt tributes and fundraising efforts on NHS Frontline Day on Monday (July 5), Bluebird Care Croydon Director Dean Slade said:

"The NHS, social care and frontline workers have been truly amazing throughout this pandemic.

"I want to say a big thank you to all our staff members who have been looking after the elderly and vulnerable, making sure that they are safe and healthy."

Dean also urged everyone to join in with the various fundraising events that were held on Monday and continue to raise money for NHS charities.

NHS Frontline Day was held on Monday to commemorate the historic founding of the NHS by Labour Health Secretary Aneurin Bevan on July 5, 1948.

Bevan was a socialist, and faced stern opposition to the founding of the NHS from institutional medicine of the day, and from the Conservative Party led by Winston Churchill.

Yet he and Clement Attlee's government succeeded in founding the NHS which remains free at the point of use some 73 years later, and is today considered with the fire brigade the UK's most popular public institution.