Denise Welch has lifted the lid on her recent hospital dash and revealed she was ‘given a bed within 15 minutes’ once someone recognised her.

The TV star 66, opened up on the health scare and the details of what happened during Thursday’s episode of Loose Women.

The panel were discussing the NHS Trust’s recent advert for a ‘corridor care’ doctor to help with the increasing pressures of overcrowding in A&E.

Denise talked about her own recent experience and revealed she had to wait a whole 24 hours to be seen while in ‘the worst pain ever,’ but claims she was quickly given a bed once another patient ‘spotted her and phoned the press’.

She had been rushed to hospital with acute peritonitis – an infection of the stomach lining – shortly after returning to the UK after her holiday in the Caribbean.

In the most recent instalment of the ITV show, Denise told the panel: ‘I’m going to say this. I was in hospital a few weeks ago.

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Denise Welch has lifted the lid on her recent hospital dash and revealed she was ‘given a bed within 15 minutes’ once someone recognised her

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The TV star 66, opened up on the health scare and the details of what happened during Thursday’s episode of Loose Women

‘I was rushed into hospital. I was alright but I was in A&E for 24 hours. Now they were looking after me and there was no bed, they kept saying, ‘There’s no bed.

‘They wanted me on the surgical ward. [They said,] ‘There’s no bed, there’s no bed, there’s no bed.’ Somebody spotted me and phoned the press – and I was in a bed in 15 minutes.’

The audience gasped in shock and fellow panelist Charlene White commented: ‘That’s not going to go down well.’

She then read out a statement from a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care.

Charlene read: ‘It’s shocking that corridor care has become a feature of our NHS. We will deliver a from and investment through our plan for change so the NHS is there when we need it once again.’

Earlier this month he star, who had been absent from the ITV panel show since November prior to her return this month, told fans: ‘2 weeks ago I was in the worst pain ever.

‘We waited 90 minutes for an ambulance and then I spent 24 hours in A&E waiting for a bed on the surgical ward.’

Denise explained: ‘I got back from a lovely holiday in the Caribbean last Saturday. All bronzed looking forward to coming on here and showing off my suntan. I got rushed into hospital on the Saturday with acute peritonitis – a perforated diverticulitis.

‘I’ve been in hospital for a drip for a week! They didn’t have to do surgery, they got it with antibiotics thankfully. As my mother said, ‘Take me to the knacker’s yard!”‘

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The panel were discussing the NHS Trust’s recent advert for a ‘corridor care’ doctor to help with the increasing pressures of overcrowding in A&E

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Earlier this month she fought back tears on Loose Women as she revealed the truth behind her extended absence from the programme

What is Peritonitis?

Peritonitis is an infection of the inner lining of your tummy. Left untreated, it can become life threatening.

Symptoms of peritonitis include:

Tummy pain
A very high temperature or feeling hot and shivery
A rapid heartbeat (your heart is beating more quickly than normal)
Not being able to pee or peeing much less than normal

If you’re diagnosed with peritonitis, you’ll need treatment in hospital to get rid of the infection.

Treatment usually involves being given antibiotics into a vein (intravenously).

Earlier this month she fought back tears on Loose Women as she revealed the truth behind her extended absence from the programme.

Denise was last seen live on Loose Women at the end of November, and then again for a pre-recorded segment about postnatal depression for the programme’s 25-hour talkathon the following month.

Addressing her absence from TV screens since, the soap star emotionally told how she realised something was wrong after a busy month of working throughout November.

She said how she first knew something wasn’t right when she accidentally drove up a one-way street and became overwhelmed by feelings of anxiety in the weeks afterwards.

Denise told the panel: ‘It was so black, so dark, so quickly.’

She told how began to suffer with panic attacks and her husband Lincoln tried to take her commitments out of her diary, including her theatre stint and her own charity ball.

After starting work on a pantomime, Denise recalled how she had collapsed in her hotel foyer within three days, adding: ‘I said to my agent you’ve got to pull me out.’

The star then fought back tears as she told how she overcame the episode and managed to put the feelings behind her after rest and recuperating.

‘I’ve made a recovery from this episode,’ she emotionally told her co-stars.

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She told how began to suffer with panic attacks and her husband Lincoln tried to take her commitments out of her diary, including her theatre stint and her own charity ball

Denise Welch returns to Loose Women amid fight with depression

Denise has been absent from the spotlight since she pulled out of a pantomime role, where she had been due to play Captain Hook at the Nottingham Theatre Royal over Christmas.

She was replaced by actor Richard Winsor, 43, and went on to also pull out of her own annual charity ball for GEM Appeal at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel at the end of November.

Just weeks before her absence, Denise had opened up about her mental health as she admitted: ‘I’ve had a really tough two weeks, which I’m still in a bit.’

‘I’d just done a podcast and article saying how I’d been free for five ears of clinical depression and I hope that something happened before I had a baby, reversed.

‘But sadly the unwelcomed visitor paid me another visit.

‘I’ve not been well for a couple of weeks, the reason why we’ve alluded to it is because we do all these things like Britain get talking, it’s good to talk.

‘Sometimes people still find it isn’t always good to talk for them.

‘I just wanted to come on here because, what I need when I’m poorly, I need for my friends to just know I need time to get well…

‘The people I work with, to say if you want to come to work, come to work, if you don’t, like last week I didn’t come I know my illness more than anyone.’

She added: ‘I’ve been free of the morning fear for a long time, because this illness is like this, I can be ok today, tomorrow I can be absolutely terrible and it’s isolating.

‘The NHS still describe depression as ongoing sadness, sadness is something you have a result of having something making you sad. it’s a health emotion.

‘Depression does exactly what it says on the tin.’

Denise’s newest revalation comes just after she revealed the truth behind her incredible weight loss during Monday’s instalment of Loose Women.

The TV star – who recently showed off her slim frame in a colourful swimsuit – opened up about the secret health condition that made her shift the pounds.

Denise appeared on the panel alongside Ruth Langsford, Myleene Klass and Linda Robson, and anchor Ruth brought up the topic of weight loss jabs and how anyone can purchase them online.

And this topic led the Hollyoaks actress to speak about her recent weight loss.

Denise said: ‘I think that we are all a little bit obsessed with weight. I recently had to lose a couple of stone because of sleep apnoea.

‘I was told that if I didn’t I could be at risk of a heart attack or stroke within 10 years.

‘I feel so much better having done it because I had learnt how to change my relationship with food. But what had happened was over the years, my weight had crept up gain.

‘I went back to the origins of what I used, the company that I used and I lost it safely and effectively.’

According to the NHS website, sleep apnoea is: ‘When your breathing stops and starts while you sleep.’

Some symptoms include: stopping and starting your breathing, gasping, snorting, waking up or snoring.

Losing weight can sometimes treat the condition.

Back in January Denise looked incredible after showing off her 2.5 stone weight loss in a blue swimsuit.

The star posed a snap of herself in the one piece on her Instagram story – and brutally cropped out her husband.

She wrote: ‘The one photo of us together @lincolntownley wouldn’t let me include him as “he didn’t have the right costume!!!”‘