The Herald

Nurse who cared for PM quits in disgust

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A NURSE who looked after Boris Johnson when he was seriously ill with Covid-19 has resigned, citing the Government’s one per cent pay offer and its lack of respect for the profession.

Jenny Mcgee, who cared for the Prime Minister in intensive care at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London, told how she found the Prime Minister in April 2020 when she arrived at work.

She told a Channel 4 documentar­y: “All around him there was lots and lots of sick patients, some of whom were dying.

“I remember seeing him and thinking he looked very, very unwell. He was a different colour really.”

In the documentar­y, The Year Britain Stopped, to be broadcast on May 24, she said that when she looks back on her period with Mr Johnson she thinks it was a “weird” time.

Ms Mcgee, who is originally from New Zealand, said she had been asked to take part in a “clap for carers” event at a garden party at Downing Street last July.

She and another nurse had been invited along by the Prime Minister to celebrate 72 years of the NHS.

Ms Mcgee said of the request to join the clap event: “It would have been a really good photo opportunit­y. You know, kind of like Boris and his NHS friends, but I wanted to stay out of it.

“Lots of nurses felt that the Government hadn’t led very effectivel­y, the indecisive­ness, so many mixed messages. It was just very upsetting.

“Yes, we have put ourselves on the line and we have worked so incredibly hard, and there’s a lot of talk about how we’re all heroes and all that sort of stuff.

“But at the same time, I’m just not sure if I can do it. I don’t know how much more I’ve got to give to the NHS. We’re not getting the respect and now pay that we deserve. I’m just sick of it. So I’ve handed in my resignatio­n.”

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