NHS workers criticise the return of Clap for Carers
Clap for Heroes chaos after yoga-loving Dutch founder ‘distances herself’ from tonight’s event after claiming she was abused on social online amid backlash from NHS workers
- Clap for Carers founder Annemarie Plas had confirmed return of weekly ritual
- But she has since been targeted with personal abuse against herself and family
- NHS doctors, paramedics and surgeons also hit out at its return at 8pm tonight
- Some staff call it ‘cringeworthy’ while others urge the public to ‘just let us get on’
- Other workers said they would rather have a pay rise and end to suffering abuse
The return of Clap for Carers tonight has descended into chaos after the founder distanced herself from it and NHS workers urged people to avoid taking part.
Annemarie Plas, 37, who came up with the weekly ritual that ran for ten weeks on Thursdays at 8pm during the first lockdown, had confirmed its return yesterday.
But the Dutch national who lives in Streatham, South London, said she had since been targeted with personal abuse and threats against herself and her family.
Mother-of-one Mrs Plas claimed she now had ‘no choice but to distance myself from this evening’s national applause’ – but insisted the event was not cancelled.
The yoga teacher added: ‘It absolutely can and should still happen at 8pm tonight if you choose and want to clap for your heroes on an individual and personal basis.’
Annemarie Plas, 37, who came up with the weekly ritual that ran for ten weeks on Thursdays at 8pm during the first lockdown, said yesterday that it would return. She is pictured last May
Mrs Plas was invited to Downing Street in London in July to take part in a clap alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson as part of a national NHS celebration that marked its 72nd anniversary
Mother-of-one Mrs Plas said in a statement this afternoon that she now had ‘no choice but to distance myself from this evening’s national applause’ but insisted the event was not cancelled
It comes after NHS doctors, paramedics and surgeons hit out at the return of Clap for Carers tonight, saying they would rather people respect the national lockdown.
Mrs Plas, who is originally from Amsterdam, said today: ‘Since announcing the return of the applause yesterday, I have been targeted with personal abuse and threats against myself and my family by a hateful few on social media channels.
How Annemarie Plas was inspired by similar Clap for Carers events in her native Holland
Annemarie Plas, 36, came up with the weekly Clap for Carers ritual that ran for ten weeks on Thursdays at 8pm during the first lockdown after being inspired by similar events in her native Netherlands.
The mother-of-one and yoga teacher, who is from Amsterdam, now lives in a three-bedroom house worth £550,000 in Streatham, South London, and is married to a British man.
She works as regional sales director for Objective Partners, a marketing consultancy based in her home city.
She has degrees in communications and law and previously worked in PR for the Dutch media firm Sanoma and communications group Starcom.
Miss Plas originally thought her show of support for frontline workers might end up being just her and a few friends sharing a moment on Facetime.
But it turned into a huge national event each week, with millions of people lining their thresholds, gathering on pavements and standing in their gardens to show their support.
However the event was criticised for becoming politicised and it finished in May, before tonight’s planned restart.
‘Irrespective of their views and reasons for believing this is an acceptable way to behave, I did not set out to make a political statement and will not put my loved ones at risk.
‘I have no political agenda, I am not employed by the Government, I do not work in PR, I am just an average mum at home trying to cope with the lockdown situation.
‘As a consequence I have opted to distance myself from tonight’s planned applause and will no longer seek to raise further awareness of it.’
Mrs Plas, who is married to a British man and lives in a three-bedroom house worth an estimated £550,000, was inspired to launch Clap for Carers after seeing similar events in the Netherlands.
She added: ‘The applause is not cancelled. I don’t have that authority or right and nor do I want to dampen the show of positivity and unity of those who recognise what we stand for and why we created Clap For… in the first place (and opted to bring it back).
‘It absolutely can and should still happen at 8pm tonight if you choose and want to clap for your heroes on an individual and personal basis – it’s up to each person to decide how relevant or worthwhile they feel it is to participate.’
The event, now renamed Clap for Heroes, calls on people up across the UK to applaud in appreciation of those at the front line in the fight against Covid-19.
But medics took to Twitter to call the event ‘cringeworthy and pointless’ while urging the public to ‘just let us get on, do our jobs and clear up the mess we’re in.’
Other staff said they would rather have a pay rise and an end to abuse, claiming the Government wanted people to ‘pity us because they say we can’t cope’.
NHS nurses were told last month that they will have to wait until at least this May for a pay rise they were promised by the Government after it was delayed.
But Yazan Masannat, a surgeon for breast cancer patients at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, tweeted: ‘We really don’t want people to clap for us for doing our jobs.
‘Just stay at home and avoid getting infected and infecting everybody else that is more helpful. #ClapForHeroes #CoronavirusUK.’
Katrina Heyman, a mental health nurse at North East London NHS Foundation Trust, added: ‘Please don’t, I personally find it cringeworthy and pointless.
‘Just say thank you, buy us a coffee, send a box of treats in to your local hospital, be understanding if we go to the front of a queue. Do anything to say thanks apart from clap or bang a saucepan!’
Glasgow-based neurosurgical nurse Clodagh Conway tweeted: ‘Please don’t clap for us. Just wear your mask, wash your hands and respect lockdown.’
And Mel Raunch, an NHS theatre store manager from Cambridge, said: ‘Don’t clap! The Government want you to pity us because they say we can’t cope, that it’s our fault.
‘It is ten years of cuts, secondment/bursary, pay also. Don’t fall for it. They are doing it to schools too. Turning people on the ‘key’ workers rather than them. They own us, they own this.’
Speaking yesterday about its return at 8pm tonight, Mrs Plas said: ‘When we first started clapping for our incredible NHS staff, care workers and key workers last March, none of us had any expectation that we would be in an even worse situation nine months later.
‘Last year the weekly applause united communities and had us talking to our neighbours whilst we acknowledged the immense sacrifices our carers were making.
‘They were and still are heroes, but this time round we also want to recognise all the other heroes that keep the country going and have endured such challenging times.
‘This Thursday at 8pm we want the whole country to unite again to remember and celebrate all of these heroes, including those most dear to us. Bring out those pots and pans, get the kids involved – they’ve been heroes too after all!’
Mrs Plas, a Dutch national living in South London, came up with the ‘spontaneous idea’ as a way to show support for frontline workers battling Covid-19, and thought it might end up being just her and a few friends sharing the moment on video chat.
However, it quickly became a national tradition every Thursday at 8pm during the first lockdown.
Members of the fire brigade, construction workers and members of the public, join in with Clap for Carers outside the Nightingale Hospital in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, last April
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds join in with Clap for Carers outside 10 Downing Street in London last May
Residents near Whittington Hospital in Highgate, North London, join in by clapping last May
Nursing staff look out from a window at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and join in the applause in April last year
Millions of people across the UK lined their thresholds, gathered on pavements and stood in their gardens to support care staff and frontline workers.
Some set off fireworks, honked their car horns and even used kitchen utensils to make as much noise as possible.
Members of the Royal Family and Prime Minister Boris Johnson also joined in with the show of support. However, the event was criticised for becoming politicised.
‘Without getting too political, I share some of the opinions that some people have about it becoming politicised,’ Mrs Plas said ahead of the final clap in May.
‘I think the narrative is starting to change and I don’t want the clap to be negative.’
