Loose Women star admits she received special treatment in A&E

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Denise Welch has revealed she was given a bed in hospital after being recognised.

The Loose Women star, 66, admitted to receiving special treatment after recently being rushed to A&E.

First being forced to wait over 24 hours for a bed, she was then told there was somewhere available for her soon after someone realised who she was.

During a segment on today’s episode of the ITV programme, the panel had been discussing how the NHS was recruiting ‘corridor doctors’ after statistics revealed patients were waiting over 12 hours for a bed due to overcrowding.

‘This may be a bit controversial…but I am going to say this. I was rushed into hospital a few weeks ago and I was alright, but I was in A&E for 24 hours. They were looking after me but there were no beds and they wanted me on the surgical ward but kept on saying “there’s no bed, there’s no bed, there’s no bed”,’ she explained.

‘Somebody spotted me and phoned the press, and I was in a bed in 15 minutes.’

Loose Women star Denise Welch has revealed the special treatment she recently received in hospital (Picture: Ken McKay/ ITV/ Shutterstock)

As fellow panellists Charlene White, Judi Love and Nadia Sawalha gasped, the audience could also be heard reacting in shock.

‘That’s not going to go down very well,’ Charlene said before reading out a statement from a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care who said they were working on improving instances of corridor care with ‘reforms’.

During the discussion Denise also spoke about how in the lead-up to her mother’s death in 2012, she witnessed many patients being treated in hospital corridors when there were not enough beds.

Last month Denise revealed what had sparked her hospital dash.

‘I came back from a lovely holiday in the Caribbean last Saturday looking all bronzed and looking forward coming back on her and showing off my suntan…and I got rushed to hospital with acute peritonitis (an infection of the stomach lining)’ she said.

‘So, I’ve been on drip for a week! They didn’t have to do surgery; they got it with antibiotics thankfully and I am now back and eating!’ she added.

She was given a bed after someone recognised who she was (Picture: ITV)

On the same episode, she also spoke about her three-month absence from Loose Women, which came after she suffered a breakdown.

‘I haven’t had anxiety for a long time, but the panic attacks started, and Lincoln (her husband) was trying to clear my diary and I stopped eating and my health was going down,’ she explained.

After collapsing in the foyer of a hotel she cancelled all her work commitments and took time out before she was ready to return.

Fighting back tears, she then spoke about ‘making a recovery from this episode’.

Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV1.

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