NHS nurse who was clapped out of the hospital after spending 12 days in ICU with coronavirus reveals she tested negative for virus TWICE before being admitted

• Sue Snelson, from Scunthorpe, has dedicated more than 40 years to the NHS
• Was applauded by colleagues as she left intensive care unit she used to manage
• NHS worker, 64, spent 12 days in intensive care unit but now recovering at home
• Told on GMB she tested negativity for coronavirus before being hospitalised
• Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19

A nurse who dedicated more than 40 years to the NHS reveals she tested negative for coronavirus twice before being hospitalised. 

Critical care nurse Sue Snelson, 64, from Lincolnshire, spent 12 days in the ICU battling the virus at Scunthorpe General Hospital and is now recovering well at home. 

Appearing on Good Morning Britain today, she revealed that after being tested for coronavirus twice, she became 'more and more unwell' but assumed it was symptoms from a previous illness.  

It wasn't until her breathing rapidly declined and she phones up a friend to tell her how 'frightened' she visited the hospital again and was admitted with the illness. 

Earlier this month, an emotional video was posted by The Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust showing Sue being applauded by her friends and colleagues as she left the intensive care unit she used to manage. 

Speaking today she said: 'I was feeling unwell for a couple of weeks before, I had shingles and I think that masked the situation I was in. My breathing was getting worse and I was getting more and more unwell. 

'I was tested and it was negative so I thought it must be part of the shingles, so I didn’t think any more about it. Until it gradually got much worse and I phoned my friend and said "I'm really frightened, I can't breathe" and she said, "get to the hospital".

'I was tested in A&E and that came back negative and I was tested again in ICU that one was positive.

When asked whether she received an explanation for the false negative, she said: 'I don't think anyone explained, I was so ill I didn’t ask the question'.  

Staff at the hospital revealed that they've had to rely on treating patients based on their clinical conditions as they've had tests come back incorrectly. 

Head nurse Emily said: 'We have had a few cases where the initial swabs have been negative. But what we've been doing as a trust we've been going on the clinical condition of the patient. 

 'We've been treating them as suspected covid and re-screening as indicated and some have been coming back then positive, but we've been going off the clinical condition of the patient.'  

Sue first began working as a nursing auxillary in 1972. She joined Scunthorpe hospital's newly opened Intensive Care Unit in 1984 and became its clinic nurse manager in 1987. 

In 2014, when Sue was marking more than 40 years of working with the NHS, she told the Scunthorpe Telegraph: 'I love my job, it has led me in so many directions over the years and has allowed me to broaden my knowledge.'

Her career has also seen her become a founding member of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses, and contribute to a book for newly qualified nurses the care of seriously ill patients.