A HERO of the coronavirus pandemic who has spent months working in an intensive care unit and helping with the vaccine programme is facing being sent back to her home country.

Kim Stewart, a Canadian national, has worked at James Cook University Hospital since last December working in the ICU wards providing patient care.

She joined the workforce at James Cook in the middle of the UK's second Covid wave.

She spent New Year’s Eve attending to a 34 year-old patient given less than 24 hours to live.

She also spent time with families, preparing them to be able to say goodbye to family members.

Ms Stewart has also been involved with the logistics of the UK's largest vaccination programme, to help fight back against Covid.

Yet she has been informed she does not qualify for the one-year visa extension for front line health workers.

This is due to here role as a support worker, which is not on the 'vital' workers visa list.

Now, Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough, has written to the Health Secretary and the Home Secretary after a Middlesbrough Covid Support worker had her visa extension refused.

Mr McDonald MP said: “I am appalled that someone like Kim, who has worked tirelessly for our wonderful NHS, supporting many victims of Covid, is being treated so dismissively.

"How her work cannot be considered important enough to qualify for the visa extension is incomprehensible.

"The care and support she has given to patients and their families has been beyond measure.

“She contacted me for support, and I have written to both the Health Secretary and the Home Secretary urging them to reconsider – Kim, and others who do similar jobs, deserve our utmost gratitude and they should have the right to continue doing that work on behalf of the NHS.

"We have to add Covid-19 support workers to the list of 'vital' health care staff who are eligible for a visa extension.

"We have all had to fight this pandemic together as a society and it speaks to our shared humanity to give those who have been closest to this terrible disease, putting themselves in danger every single day for us all, the right to continue this invaluable work on behalf of our NHS and the UK."

Both the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care have been contacted for a comment.

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated County Durham Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054