Mirror Health Editor Martin Bagot wins top 'news story' award for dementia scoop

Mirror Health Editor Martin Bagot wins top 'news story' award for dementia scoop Mirror Health Editor Martin Bagot has won a prestigious news journalism award for his disturbing exposé of how dementia patients are suffering within NHS hospitals - despite nursing staff's efforts Mirror Health and Science Editor Martin Bagot has won a prestigious journalism award for revealing the terrible treatment dementia patients get in NHS hospitals. He scooped News Story of the year at last night’s Medical Journalists Association (MJA) Awards, held in central London, for his brilliant article on the plight of dementia patients. Martin’s exclusive story revealed a “culture of containment” as many patients in UK hospitals felt like a ‘prisoner,’ prevented from getting out of bed by ward staff. His disturbing scoop in March highlighted fears by many sufferers they felt ‘kidnapped’ or ‘held hostage’ whilst forced to remain in bed by nursing staff against their will. It won the sought-after award beating stiff competition from other news outlets, including the Guardian, Independent and Sunday Times. Last night, Mirror Editor-in-Chief Chloe Hubbard said:"All of our readers will sadly know someone affected by dementia and understand how terrifying living with this heartbreaking condition is. "Martin's reporting is a chilling read and sadly highlights the reality faced by patients in the very place they should be safe and cared for. We are proud Martin has been honoured with this award and hope it helps stop these cruel practices." As he celebrated his first national journalism award Martin, 42, who has been on the Mirror for the past 13 years, said: “I am delighted to receive this award - and to be recognised the MJA. “I am also proud that the Mirror was able to give such an important issue the prominent and nuanced coverage it deserved. "Caring for an aging population is a demographic challenge facing developed nations around the world and how to live well with dementia is a major part of this. “How we care for people with dementia is an issue that could impact any of us at some point in our lives." The Mirror worked with the authors of a ground-breaking study investigating NHS dementia care to showcase one of the challenges of our age. Caring for an aging population is a demographic challenge facing developed nations around the world and how to live well with dementia is a major part of this. Martin conducted a series of interviews including with the authors of the report as well as with a dementia patient who had been sedated against his will. The resulting front page story explored how NHS staff - despite having patients' best interests at heart - have become part of a pernicious system of practices based on old assumptions of dementia being an end of life disease. It revealed how routine practices have become normalised and embedded in the care of patients living with dementia following hospital admission. The award organisers declared: “It is a story that could affect any of us and our loved ones at some point. “Martin Bagot's reporting brought home to a general readership exactly how NHS dementia care maintains a 'culture of containment' which can have devastating consequences for patients, meaning in many cases they never go home.” Some 168 patients and medics agreed to participate in over 1,000 detailed interviews. Restrictive practice on wards begins with raised bars stopping them from leaving their beds, physical restraint and even the use of sedatives or antipsychotic drugs to keep them under control. Worryingly, his report revealed how staff were able to label them “aggressive” in their medical notes if they tried to push their way out of bed. The problem was said to lead to social care packages being withdrawn, a nightmare leading to never being able to return to independence or to go back to a care home. Martin’s write-up was based upon the first-ever review of health care given to the UK’s NHS dementia patients in hospitals. It read: “The report, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), will be launched on Thursday and has major implications for how the NHS cares for people living with the condition in the years to come. “It looked at how dementia patients are cared for during an urgent or unplanned hospital admission such as after a fall or when suffering a sudden illness or injury. “Such admissions of dementia patients make up between 25% and 50% of all acute hospital admissions.” In it lead author of the report Professor Andy Northcott, of the University of West London, said: “They wake up and realise they don’t know where they are, they are in a bed that is essentially a cage and they can’t get out. “What is happening every day to dementia patients doesn’t fit with what the NHS should be doing.”