Eamonn Holmes blasts Brexit for leaving NHS ‘underpaid and understaffed’ ‘No respite!’ | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV

Eamonn Holmes should have been presenting coverage of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on TV screens earlier this month, but found himself in a hospital bed being treated for a painful back instead. The experience gave the presenter, who has just begun a new column for Express.co.uk, a renewed understanding of the “underpaid and understaffed” NHS.

The 63-year-old broadcaster woke up in agony at the time and, after being rushed to A&E and having an emergency MRI scan, it was revealed that he was suffering from two prolapsed discs in his back.

He was impressed by the speedy and efficient treatment he received and the “education” he was given about his condition, alongside the options he was offered every step of the way – but he lamented the impact Brexit has been having on the NHS.

“The 20 or 30 [staff] I met during my stay repeatedly insisted they were ‘just doing their jobs’,” he recalled, after praising their efforts to keep patients comfortable throughout the night.

“My carers were from Northern Ireland, the Philippines and Africa. They were underpaid and understaffed,” he continued.

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“Around me were patients with bad injuries, often in tremendous pain. The screams, day and night, bore testament to that,” he admitted.

“Yet there was always a doctor, nurse or nursing auxiliary close by to hold a hand, apply pain relief or empty a bedpan.”

The presenter, who is from Northern Ireland, stated that his care was hugely different to what he’d experienced in the private sector in London in the past.

“As the days passed it was clear none of them, not a single one, were doing it for the money,” he exclaimed.