A NURSE “left broken” by working on the coronavirus front line has warned of a mass exodus of NHS staff if more is not done to support them.

Mel Kerr, an NHS nurse for five years, told the PA news agency that her trust has about one in nine workers off sick with Covid-19 and other illness, including stress, depression and anxiety.

She said that the NHS would lose “a lot of nurses” in the next five years due to retirement, warning that the number choosing to retire early could increase because of the pandemic.