Kate Garraway remembers a difficult journey to get a husband Derek Draper home from hospital amid huge ambulance waiting times.
The Good Morning Britain presenter, 55, has cared for husband Derek for over two years as he continues to battle various health issues caused by contracting Covid-19.
Former political lobbyist Derek was stricken with the virus in March 2020 and was put into a coma to help his body recover from the symptoms. He was released from the hospital the following year, but suffered severe damage to his body, including his heart and lungs.
Now Kate recalls a harrowing experience trying to get Derek home from the hospital, as patients have to wait several hours for an ambulance to arrive.
Speaking on Friday’s Good Morning Britain following a discussion about ambulance waiting times, Kate recalled driving Derek home in a black cab after being told it would take up to five hours for her to get an official doctor’s car to could get home.
She said the delays put a lot of ‘pressure’ on individuals who are not qualified, admitting: ‘I have used a lot of taxis for Derek for hospital appointments because the mobility service and ambulances have been very delayed.
“If you try to book a service car, you sometimes have to wait five hours to take you home from the hospital.”
“He was in a lot of pain,” she recalls. “It wasn’t sustainable. So we took a taxi home from the hospital.
“We went over a speed bump and he slid out of the wheelchair. I was really lucky because the black cab driver who had access to mobility had been taking care of his father after a stroke, so he was very good at dealing with someone with that condition.
“So the two of us were calling him back into the wheelchair, tying him up and taking him home.
“But there are a lot of taxi drivers who would have said, ‘I can’t handle this.’ I’m not even sure I was meant to deal with it.’
When asked by co-presenter Ben Shephard if she thinks she should have waited for the ambulance to take Derek home, Kate admits she still doesn’t know, because “he was in so much grief and pain.”
“You have to call all the time, which you actually know you’re not qualified to do.”
On another recent episode of GMB, Kate revealed how, nearly three years after Derek first contracted the disease, he finally got an appointment with an expert working on the effects of long-term Covid damage.
“Finally got into the long Covid clinic after a year and a half for a great group of people working on the impact of Covid damage, and they said, ‘We’re going to get you into this person, that person, we’re going to take action.’
‘The agreements for 2023 and 2024 have now come through, so you are talking about four years after the impact.’
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