Kate Garraway admits she expects to receive ‘flack’ for speaking out on crippling care system: ‘We all need something to catch us when we fall’

Kate Garraway has revealed she expects to receive some criticism after speaking out about problems with the UK healthcare system ahead of the release of her latest documentary.

Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story chronicles the final year of Derek Draper’s life as he continued to battle the detrimental effects of long Covid after the virus left him bedridden.

And speaking about the show during an appearance on The One Show on Tuesday, Kate revealed she had received messages from many people in the health industry begging her to speak out about the conditions.

Kate told hosts Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas: ‘TToday I have had social workers, health workers, doctors, nurses, caregivers who do it for love, caregivers who do it for pay, all saying please say something because we can’t.

“And I know I’ll get some criticism for it, but I feel like We’re all going to need this.

“We’re all going to need this for ourselves or someone we love and it’s not a blame game, but we have to find a way to work through it.”

He continued: “We all need something to catch us when we fall and it shouldn’t feel like you’re trying to get caught.”

During his career, Derek worked as a political lobbyist before turning to psychology.

Kate added: “I always felt like he was someone who had fought so hard to make things better during his time as a politician and then as a psychologist.”

‘It must have been very difficult to see what had not changed, what he then inflicted on you. It’s just terrible.’

While Kate explained that it was Derek who wanted to make the final documentary, she confessed that after his death she was left in a moral dilemma about whether it was right to continue with the project.

She explained: ‘At the end of last year, when we least expected it, the damage of Covid took it from us.

“So I went through a whole thought process: ‘Is this right? Is it too painful for her mom, her dad, her sisters?

“And then I thought, well, that’s pretty selfish because he wanted it and the people he wanted to speak for, and he makes it very clear, just because I’m not a caregiver anymore, I wish I was.”

‘You don’t want to walk away from what you were trying to raise awareness about because it no longer affects you. So really go ahead with your wishes.’

She added: “He could see the strain on carers, professionals, the system, assessments when he was sometimes told ‘you’re just not sick enough.’

Kate also stated that she is “not claiming poverty” and revealed how much Derek’s care costs amounted to.

Sharing a clip from tonight’s documentary, Kate speaks to the head of a social care organization as she reveals that the cost of her basic care, without any additional therapy, is almost £4,000 a week.

Kate, exasperated, asks: ‘How can I afford that? How can anyone afford £16,000 a month? Why do people get sick, why is coming home like falling off a cliff?

Speaking back in the studio, he continued: “It shouldn’t be like this.” Because the skill of a caregiver, the skill of that kind of care, saves lives and is as brilliant as the work of a surgeon, but we don’t respect it. We see it as a luxury.

‘And I have an amazing job, I have a very well-paid job, I’m not claiming poverty, but that’s why I felt like I had to be so honest because if I can’t afford it, who can?’

‘People can’t manage alone 24 hours a day. Derek had huge medical needs, but even he wasn’t considered medically serious enough to get that support, so what’s it like for someone one step below that?

“Someone who can’t move or communicate, I just fear for all of us.”

Kate previously emotionally revealed she felt “ashamed” of the huge debts she racked up funding her late husband’s care, ahead of the broadcast of the moving documentary depicting his final days.