Louise Thompson calls NHS nurses her ‘beacon of hope’ amid national strike action

The Made In Chelsea star said the government needs to act to improve conditions for nursing staff.

Joanna Whitehead
Friday 16 December 2022 10:03 GMT
‘Claps do not pay the rent’: NHS nurses strike begins outside St Thomas’ hospital

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Louise Thompson has hailed the NHS nurses that looked after her during her previous hospital visits as “my shining light, my beacon of hope” amid their national strike action.

The Made In Chelsea star said she had “very mixed feelings” towards the UK health system, but said the government needed to act to improve conditions for nursing staff.

The 32-year-old has suffered both physical and mental health problems since a traumatic childbirth incident at the end of 2021.

In a lengthy post shared to Instagram, Thompson described the nurses who cared for her during her hospital stay as “champs”.

“They rolled my body onto one side and changed my bedsheets from underneath my heavy naked body when I couldn’t move. They drugged me up. They helped me go to the loo,” she revealed.

“They put cream on my bedsores (I can’t believe these are actually a thing). They changed sweat ridden sheets multiple times a day. They fed me, shaved me, cleaned me. It was pretty grim. And yet they did it with such grace and dignity.”

She added that the hospital ward was “chaos” adding that “the amount of strain they were under was shocking”.

She continued: “The NHS needs more good people. Good people make an enormous impact on people’s lives and are the difference between people feeling safe, comfortable and wanting to keep going vs not wanting to give up.

“Without good nursing staff hospitals will fall apart. Gov better do something about it.⁣”

It comes after nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland went on strike in the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) first national action on Thursday.

RCN leader Pat Cullen warned that action by nurses would escalate unless ministers were prepared to get around the table and negotiate in the dispute over pay and conditions.

The TV personality was previously diagnosed with PTSD and has suffered numerous health issues since suffering complications while giving birth to her son, Leo-Hunter.

Thompson appeared in Made In Chelsea’s first series in 2011, progressing to become one of the E4 show’s main characters.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in