Eamonn Holmes thanks NHS 'angels' after being rushed to hospital in 'excruciating pain'

Eamonn Holmes thanked the ‘angels’ of the NHS as he broke his silence on why he was rushed to hospital earlier this month.

The 62-year-old presenter was forced to pull out of hosting coverage of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on GB News, and subsequently was unable to be on one of the open-top buses alongside wife Ruth Langsford during the Platinum Pageant outside Buckingham Palace in London.

While Eamonn kept quiet on the reasons behind his hospital trip, he’s now opened up on why he ended up in the back of an ambulance as he revealed he was in “excruciating pain”.

In a column for Express.co.uk, he said he was taken to Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital Spinal Injuries unit after waking up in the middle of the night in agony.

Eamonn has had back problems in the past (Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

He's been spotted using a walking stick in recent months (Instagram)

He said he “immediately knew something wasn’t right,” and it transpired that he had two prolapsed discs in his back, which required emergency surgery.

But when he was told the operation wasn’t going ahead, he confessed he initially thought it was because the NHS was “inefficient, wasteful and not fit for purpose”.

Eamonn admitted he was humbled when he was instead given a “comprehensive care package” from doctors and nurses looking after him, and was told he wasn’t having surgery because the op was “too complex” and the “consequences of spinal injuries”.

He said he was having 'rehab and recovery' in a recent social media post (Instagram)

Eamonn said he was disappointed to have missed the Queen's Platinum Jubilee (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

He heaped praise on those looking after him - and his fellow patients - as he said he was surrounded by “screams, day and night” from people who were in “tremendous pain”.

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

“As the days passed it was clear none of them, not a single one, were doing it for the money,” he said, as he noted they were all “proud of their jobs”.

His back injury forced him to miss out on riding atop on of the buses during the Platinum Pageant (Getty Images)

Eamonn said it “would have been easy to have felt sorry for myself in the hospital”, but he said it was a “privilege” to be looked after by the doctors and nurses.

He said the NHS was “underpaid and understaffed”, and said those who cared for him during his hospital stay have his “respect, admiration and thanks”.

“But right now my heart belongs to the NHS - and the Angels who got me back on my feet again. Thank you,” he sweetly concluded.

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