Paul Derrick

I am Head of Multi Media News at the weekly newspaper The Bury Free Press and the county-wide website SuffolkNews. My first submission is an interview I secured with Suffolk's highest ranking gay police officer. I had seen a tweet from Suffolk Constabulary about a recruitment webinar aimed at the LGBTQ+ community. I asked if I could interview an officer who is part of the LGBTQ+ community. As a gay man myself, I explained how I knew the difficulties and challenges people from the community can face sometimes and how that impacts confidence, career choices as well as what you do or don't reveal to people. I think being open about my own background helped me to secure the subsequent interview with Richard Burton who spoke honestly about his journey. The story had a positive response on social media and it is a piece I will always be proud of. I think such representation is important to show others from the community who may be struggling that they are not alone and there are role models like Richard who have helped forge a path to success. My second submission is an investigation to try to find out the number of social admissions to hospitals in Suffolk following the death of a patient. They had suffered a head injury at a hospital emergency department where they had been placed as a last resort social admission after exhaustive efforts to find suitable alternative care. It resulted in the publication of a prevention of future deaths report by a coroner with concerns over a shortage of residential care placements. I submitted a Freedom of Information request in May but was told by the hospital trust concerned that it didn't routinely code social admissions. I pursued the matter further with them to try to clarify the issue as to why and asked the NHS and local authority for figures (neither held a record) as well as approaching the Department of Health. After weeks of questioning, I published a story in July about what I had found - that mystery surrounded the number of social admissions to hospitals, with a comment from the local health watchdog. I felt it was important to pursue this issue to see how and if a record was being kept to highlight any improvements that needed to be made to the care system to prevent pressures on hospitals. My third submission, is an investigation into the use of community resolutions by police to deal with cases out of court. I had seen a police incident in our town centre while walking home from work and found out it had been dealt with by way of community resolution. I submitted an FOI which showed that thousands had been issued in recent years and spoke to The Magistrates' Association and a barrister for their views on the use of them, with a response from the police addressing concerns raised.