An NHS nurse, from Lisburn, Northern Ireland, has revealed she was turned away by her colleagues at hospital doors after she started showing coronavirus symptoms.
Clare McKiernan told she developed a slight dry cough on Thursday but she didn’t think anything of it and went to bed.
When she woke up the next day, she felt weak after cleaning her house and had no energy. She became shivery and struggled to breathe.
She said: “I had to lay down with my coat on and my quilt wrapped around me…I was rigouring [the rapid onset of a high fever with chills] quite bad. I woke and felt 100 times worse.”
She called her GP who told her to head to A&E where there were isolation rooms.
However, her colleagues turned her away even after she informed them she had central cardiac pain and struggling to breathe.
She said: “I also told them I was a healthcare worker and also had a history of pleurisy and partial collapsed lung. They didn’t want to know. Most importantly I told them I had young children at home.”
Clare was left in tears after she was refused care and sat in her car as she was too afraid to go home as she didn’t want to pass on her symptoms to her young children.
She again called her GP who called the A&E department but they refused to let her in.
Clare said: “I went home and tried to self isolate myself which is impossible with kids but sure the government says kids are safe, right? Wrong.”
When her partner woke her up the next morning, she found out her son Daniel was having a febrile seizure and his body shut down.
The mother said: “We prayed he’d be OK and safe and god delivered his promise. He’s alive and stable but still unwell. All of my children are very sick and although the healthcare system isn’t swabbing anymore people we all know what it is.”
Clare has now urged parents to keep their children safe through a Facebook post.
She advised parents to keep their children at home as the government of Northern Ireland has ‘buried their heads in the sand’ and refusing to shut schools down.
Her post instantly went viral online and people were left shocked at how she was treated.
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