Kate Garraway referenced the ‘challenges’ of caring for her husband Derek Draper as she spoke about winning her second award for Best Authored Documentary at the National Television Awards on Thursday night.
The Good Morning Britain presenter, 55, fought back tears as she accepted the gong for her documentary, Caring For Derek.
She won the award last year for her first documentary, Finding Derek, which focused on Derek's health battle after being hospitalised with the coronavirus.
Good Morning Britain co-host Ben Shephard congratulated the star on Friday morning for his win and referred to the emotional documentary.
He said: “The documentary you made, Caring For Derek, said such an important thing about talking about carers and the problem we have with caring at home.”
Kate replied noting that caring is something ‘everybody’ will come into contact with at some point in their lives.
She said: “Yet, it’s only when you’re in it that you see the real challenges of the system. That’s why it was amazing and fantastic to put a subject that isn’t particularly dramatic – it’s about the small details of life – on prime time.”
Ben replied noting the NHS backlogs for its health services, as Kate described the infrastructural problems as ‘terrifying’.
She said: “The backlog relates to the pressure on the care system to get people out.
Good Morning Britain guest Jacqui Smith said to Kate: “You've really ably demonstrated the human side of what the care crisis means but of course it’s also an enormous political issue.
“You’re absolutely right. The pandemic has made enormous waiting lists worse.”
Kate described the inability to work while caring as ‘critical’, adding: “I posted on my social media that I was a bit conflicted about posting about the subject – that felt like it was drawing attention to me.
“Brilliant drawing attention to Derek’s fight, but I wanted to draw attention to the situation.
“So many people got in touch with me and said, I am currently a carer for my partner because they are waiting for an operation.
“They’re in pain, can’t work and can’t pay taxes. They’re then caring, so they can’t work. So the whole system goes into a fix.”
Her win came after she had revealed that Derek had been readmitted to hospital as he continues to battle complications after contracting sepsis in August.
Accompanied by her 16-year-old daughter Darcey on stage, Kate said that Derek is continuing to ‘fight’ and that they hope he will be home soon.
