Doctor who treated Grenfell Tower victims: seeing so many burned children deeply affected me

A doctor who treated victims of the Grenfell Tower fire today said he is still affected by the images of burned children as experts said the disaster triggered a mental health crisis on an “unprecedented” scale.

Consultant anaesthetist Dr Helgi Johannsson saw the inferno from his Maida Hill home before heading to St Mary’s hospital in Paddington to treat the victims.

He said: “It was an incredible and terrifying sight, seeing how enormous the flames were from my home which is only 15 minutes’ walk from the tower.

“It has deeply affected me, it was so close to home but it has mainly affected me because of the sheer number of injured children that I saw.

“I saw so many people come in and we dealt with a lot of horrified children, many of whom had lost their parents. We had no idea who they were, it was tough to deal with.”

He said: “There were feelings of anger, helplessness and real feelings of grief.

“It was very hard to deal with the emotions, especially for my colleagues on the paediatric intensive care unit treating horrifically affected children.

“It’s not just the patient’s family that grieves when they die, we do too, and those emotions can be very intense.”

Plans are in place for protective wrapping to be placed around the building, shielding it from view ahead of an eventual demolition next year.

Doctors have welcomed the move, saying the structure serves as a daily reminder to the neighbourhood of its loss.

Dr Meena Nathan, a GP who who lost several patients in the fire, said: “For those living across from the tower, it is a constant reminder and they are having flashbacks.”

According to NHS data, some 457 adults have been singled out as requiring “urgent” treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while 39 children are also receiving specialist mental health care.

Dr Alastair Bailey, the clinical psychological lead at the NHS Grenfell Tower Trauma Service, said: “It is unprecedented.

"We think about the London bombings, the terror attack in Tunisia which affected British nationals and other events over the years, but nothing has affected a community like this.”

A staff of around 170 mental health workers, soon to be more than 200, have been tasked with supporting the west London community, holding specialist surgeries and knocking on doors to ensure support is given to those affected.