London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Covid: Nurse who cared for PM resigns from NHS

Covid: Nurse who cared for PM resigns from NHS

A nurse who cared for Boris Johnson when he was in intensive care with Covid has quit the NHS and criticised the government's handling of the pandemic and nurses' pay.

Jenny McGee said she was "taking a step back" from the NHS after her "toughest year" in the job, but hoped to return.

She told a Channel 4 documentary that nurses were not getting "the respect and now pay" they deserve.

The government has recommended a 1% pay rise for NHS staff this year.

Ms McGee also told the programme, The Year Britain Stopped, that "a lot of nurses" felt the government "hadn't led very effectively" and that there had been "indecisiveness" and "so many mixed messages".

She said it had been "very upsetting".

Ms McGee, originally from New Zealand, now plans to work abroad and spend time in her home country.

She told the documentary: "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."

She gave the comments to the programme recently and a spokeswoman for the hospital confirmed she has now left.

In a statement released through Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, Ms McGee said: "After the toughest year of my nursing career, I'm taking a step back from the NHS but hope to return in the future.

"I'm excited to start a nursing contract in the Caribbean, before a holiday back home in New Zealand later in the year.

"I'm so proud to have worked at St Thomas' Hospital and to have been part of such a fantastic team."

Ms McGee also told the documentary, being broadcast on 24 May, that Mr Johnson was surrounded by sick patients, "some of whom were dying", when he was admitted to hospital in April last year.

"I remember seeing him and thinking he looked very, very unwell," she said. "He was a different colour really."

She described it as a "surreal" time, and added that as Covid patients are complicated to look after, "we just didn't know what was going to happen".

After his release from hospital, Mr Johnson gave a statement in which he praised Ms McGee and fellow nurse Luis Pitarma for staying by his bedside all night.

She was invited to Downing Street in July for a garden party to celebrate 72 years of the NHS. In the documentary, the nurse said she was asked to take part in the clap for carers alongside the prime minister.

It would have been a "good photo opportunity" but she said she wanted to "stay out of it", adding: "Lots of nurses felt that the government hadn't led very effectively - the indecisiveness, so many mixed messages."

Ms McGee has been speaking about her experience of the NHS during Covid in a Channel 4 documentary

Downing Street said in a statement: "Our NHS staff have gone above and beyond over the past year and this government will do everything in our power to support them.

"We are extremely grateful for the care NHS staff have provided throughout the pandemic in particular."

But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the nurse's decision to leave the NHS was a "devastating indictment of Boris Johnson's approach to the people who put their lives on the line for him and our whole country".

Pat Cullen, acting general secretary and chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said it was warning of "an exodus" from the profession. She said the government should "demonstrate its respect by giving nurses a fair pay rise for the skilled work they do".

Sara Gorton, head of health at the Unison union, said many more staff could quit "unless the prime minister sees sense over pay".


Nurse Jenny McGee speaking last year about treating the PM


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
×