Coronavirus: Kate calls Aussie nurses to say thank you

Nurses at the Mount Isa medical centre, Gidgee Healing, received a special thank you from the royal family.

Kate and Sophie talked to nurses in Mt Isa Picture; Instagram.

Nurses at the Mount Isa medical centre, Gidgee Healing, have received a special thank you from the Royal Family on International Nurses Day.

Both the Duchess of Cambridge, who is patron of Nurses Now campaign, and the Countess of Wessex, who is a global ambassador for the Prevention of Blindness, took part in a special conference call with the Australian nurses.

Kate, 38, asked three Gidgee staff: ‘’We’d love to hear what its like on the ground.’’

She was told: “It has been as hectic as it has been around the world I would say. In the emergency department we’re obviously stepping up our protocols and guidelines.’’

At that point the Queen’s daughter-in-law Sophie, 55, added: “I hope you are feeling some of the love as well.’’

In the clip released on the Kensington Royal Instagram page today, the Queen, who recently turned 94, spoke with Professor Kathleen McCourt, the President of the Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Federation and Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, of which The Queen is Patron.

Her Majesty called it a “rather important day”, referring to the coronavirus pandemic, saying: “Obviously nurses have had a very important part to play recently.”

The Royal Family (anticlockwise from top left): Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge,) Prince Charles, Princess Alexandra, Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Princess Anncall nurses around the Commonwealth. Picture: AFP.

Senior members of the Royal Family thanked nurses around the Commonwealth for their efforts.

The Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Princess Royal, the Countess of Wessex and Princess Alexandra joined in the calls to HIV and maternal health nurses at the Phalombe District Hospital in Malawi; mental health nurses at Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre in Nassau in the Bahamas, those working at Aberdeen Women’s Centre in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and the LV Prasad Eye Institute and Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad, India.

Kate heard how the ex-wife of a Cyprus nurse was a schoolteacher and Sophie joked she would be “recruited” for Kate’s homeschooling efforts.

The Duchess added: “I would quite like her to come and help me with homeschooling.”

In the social media collation released by the Palace, Kate told the nurses: “I don’t know how you manage to do this and keep the show on the road despite the extra pressures you’re all under and the challenging conditions – it’s just shown how vital the role that nurses play across the world. You should be so proud of the work that you do.”