Louise Thompson has shown her support for nurses who went on strike on Thursday (Picture: Instagram/@louise.thompson)
Louise Thompson has hailed NHS nurses as ‘champs’ after the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) went on strike for the first time in its 106-year history on Thursday in a row over higher pay.
The 32-year-old took to social media to throw her support behind those striking as she recalled the time she spent in hospital after her traumatic birth to son Leo last December.
Former Made In Chelsea star Louise spent a month in intensive care following complications during labour and has given honest updates on her health since – sharing that she has been diagnosed with lupus earlier this week.
Sharing a photo of herself in a hospital bed with tubes up her nose, Louise wrote a lengthy post as she threw herself behind the nurses on the picket line.
She began her message by explaining that she has ‘very mixed feelings towards our healthcare system as a whole.’
But she shard how ‘there were two ladies who came to my rescue who I adored very much. They were my shining light, my beacon of hope and they made a MASSIVE difference to my experience. They were nurses that I met when I moved down into the high dependency unit.
Louise was in intensive care for a month after giving birth to her son in December (Picture: Instagram/@louise.thompson)
‘They looked after me well, they kept me in the loop, tried to give me as much information as possible and they even had to do some gritty things that they’d never done before, like unpick my infected staples that had grown into my skin (I was quite shocked that I was the Guinea pig and that these things were so casual).’
Calling the nurses ‘champs’, she said they were ‘expected to just pull tubes and drains out of my neck and body like it was no big deal,’ adding they ‘came running to my side when I had a very intense flash back/trip out episode where I was sweating and screaming as I came off morphine.’
‘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. They put cream on my bedsores,’ she continued.
‘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 went on to say that she hoped she would be able to return to the hospital on Christmas Day this year, but admits she’s not sure she would be able to with the amount of ‘chaos that goes on in there every day.’
Thousands of nurses went on strike on Thursday (Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire)
Calling out the government, Louise said: ‘I think funding needs to trickle down to keep highly qualified and EXPERIENCED nurses in their jobs.
‘Surely experience is everything? There needs to be some incentive. I was shocked at how young every one was around me which I guess says it all. The turnover rate must be high,’ she added.
She detailed how a nurse had recently told her about the amount of ‘seriously challenging patients she’d dealt with, the abuse, the blood, wee and poo and also the dead bodies she’d seen.
Louise revealed she has been diagnosed with lupus earlier this week (Picture:@louise.thompson/Instagram)
‘The NHS needs more good people,’ she went on. ‘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.’
Recalling how a number of the nurses she has come into contact with have their own experiences of critical health, she urged: ‘Gov better do something about it.’
Louise finished her post: ‘I’m sorry if I still come across as cynical and repetitive. I know I should be grateful to be alive and to have a son that is alive. Sometimes I think it would be easier if I was gone. Just the reality. It feels unfair that I was subject to this crisis.’
Nurses are currently scheduled to take part in a second day of strike action on December 20 as the RCN says NHS nurses have suffered a real-terms pay cut of 20 per cent since 2010.
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The union is campaigning for a five percent pay rise above inflation to help nurses overcome those real-terms pay cuts, support nursing staff through the cost-of-living crisis and recognise their safety critical skills.
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, insisted: ‘Our strike action will be as much for patients as it is for nurses – we have their support in doing this.’
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MORE : Louise Thompson reveals she has lupus as she suffers nasty rash and shares health update
Louise spent a month in intensive care after giving birth.
