AN autistic teenager has sent almost 700 thank you cards to staff at a hospital to share messages of support with those on the front line dealing with Covid-19.

Paddy Joyce, 17, began writing to healthcare staff in mid-January as a way to help with his anxiety after he became very upset over the death statistics.

With the assistance of staff at Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI), he has now been able to handwrite 663 individually named cards to members of the team.

He said: “I saw how sad and upset they were on the news. My mum said I should write to someone, so I asked her to find someone and lots of people wanted one, so I want to write to everyone.”

His mother Indra said writing the letters helps with Paddy’s concerns about Covid. She said: “He honed in on Covid death stats and they made him very upset, but he couldn’t stop looking at them. Now, he’ll read them, and they make him determined to write more cards so he can help make the doctors and nurses happy.”