Blackpool Vic's Sophie among the NHS heroes choir trying for Christmas number one

Sophie Kreppel, 31, who works at at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, and fellow intensive care unit (ICU) workers from across the country have released a re-worded version of the classic Police song, 'Every Breath You Take'.

And apart from hoping to reach the top of the festive British charts, they are also hoping to raise funds to support the mental health and wellbeing of frontline 'heroes' of the NHS.

Known as the ICU Liberty Singers, the choir began life as an attempt to bring some fun and respite to ICU workers after the toughest year in history.

Choir members include ICU staff such as nurses, doctors and allied health professionals who have been working on the frontline of healthcare.

Already their song has gained massive national attention and Police star Sting is supporting the choir.

Sophie, who has been based at Blackpool since August and is also a talented cellist, said: "We didn't originally intend to go public, we started off just meeting over Zoom as a way of relaxing and team bonding with people in the same line of work across the country.

"We've met just once a week since November 25 but it went so well that we decided to make a recording, just for ourselves.

"Then things took off and we decided to go for it and raise some money too.

"It has been really emotional, it's so lovely to meet up and sing during these stressful times, and when we did the recording there were a few tears afterwards."

There is a serious message behind the single, as emerging data shows that around one in ten people who catch COVID-19 end up needing hospital treatment.

Of those, around one third end up in ICU.

While the country has had varying degrees of lockdown to contend with – the relentless pace of caring for the most seriously affected has not changed hugely for ICU staff and now they face going in to winter – traditionally hugely challenging in a normal year – with a second wave hitting hard.

It was against this background that the choir was born, when choir director Kari Olsen Porthouse contacted Dean of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, Dr Alison Pittard and offered to run a pop up choir – with four singing sessions and a remote recording of one of the songs.

Kari said: “Singing is immensely powerful for helping establish and maintain good mental health – but something really special happens when we sing together and the effect is even more powerful. There is a sense of belonging, and a sense of a team working to deliver something beautiful."

All money raised will go to create a fund, managed through the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine,, to provide wellbeing and mental health support for staff after an extraordinarily impactful year.

The single will is available for download and streaming on all platforms such as Spotify, ITunes, Apple Music.

To watch the video of the song, visit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm3z0qoDbo8&ab_channel=LibertySingerTVThe GoFundMe page is at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/icu-libertysingers?utm_term=bkjkQNYNZ