Kate Garraway reveals husband Derek Draper has fallen out of his wheelchair amid health issues that have left him long ill with Covid since 2020
Kate Garraway has revealed her husband Derek Draper fell out of his wheelchair amid health issues that have left him long ill with Covid since 2020.
Telling her co-stars on Friday morning, the 55-year-old Good Morning Britain TV presenter expressed how the “disturbing moment” happened while they were in a taxi.
She discussed ambulance wait times as she explained what happened to Derek, who was “in pain” and was taking too long to wait for an ambulance.
‘Troubling moment’: Kate Garraway has revealed her husband Derek Draper fell out of his wheelchair amid health issues which have left him ill with Covid since 2020
Earlier this week, Kate clashed with Labor frontbencher Emily Thornberry over her husband Derek Draper’s treatment at a private hospital during his tense battle with coronavirus.
She challenged the shadow prosecutor over Sir Keir Starmer’s radical plan to tackle the huge backlog by outsourcing to private hospitals.
Asked if the policy amounted to privatisation, Ms Thornberry insisted: ‘It is not.
“If you wait six months for your hip to be replaced and there aren’t enough beds in a National Health Service hospital and some beds in a private hospital, we’re saying the NHS will pay for excess capacity in private hospitals to shorten the waiting list. It’s just completely pragmatic politics.
Loved ones: The Good Morning Britain TV presenter, 55, told her co-stars on Friday morning and expressed how the “disturbing moment” happened while they were in a taxi
In response, Ms Garraway said: “I know from personal experience because when Derek was first ill and had to be taken to hospital there was no room on any ward for the treatment he needed. And so practically everything was nationalized back then.
“But after a while the private hospitals said they couldn’t pay for it and so it ended, it went back. And that seemed like a sensible way to go.’
Last month, an emotional Kate broke down while discussing husband Derek’s health struggle.
The Good Morning hostess admitted there is “no end point” to his caring and her new way of life can be “tiring” for those around her.
Derek is one of the longest-suffering Covid patients in the UK, having been hospitalized with the virus in March 2020 and only returning to the family home in London in April 2021, where he is receiving 24-hour care.
She told host Lorraine Kelly: “The thing is, when it’s a long fight like Derek’s, there’s no end and it can be exhausting for the people around me too. I know sometimes people say, “Oh, she’s talking about it again,” but what I’ve learned is that you only really know how it feels when you’re there.
“And now I’m being contacted by thousands and thousands of people who make me feel less alone.”
Discussing Derek’s current health status after being hospitalized with sepsis, she said: “It’s a long attack. I can see he’s got better days, he’s got worse days. Luckily he’s home now. It was a long struggle to bring him back home.