Former South London Press reporter wins award for exposing the trials of being a medic in the pandemic

A former South London Press reporter has won an award for exposing the harrowing daily trials of being a medic during the pandemic.

Sian Bayley, formerly a Local Democracy Reporter, now senior reporter at The Bookseller, has been announced as the winner as part of the Regional Press Awards which showcase the very best in regional and local journalism from across the UK.

The judges said Sian’s entry was a “thoughtful piece” which highlighted key issues relating to the initial response to the pandemic, and was “a fine example of local reporting in the public interest.”

Sian scooped the £500 prize for the award which was set up by the News Media Association in 2019 in memory of Cathryn Nicoll, who was news editor at the Croydon Advertiser during her career as a journalist and was known for her passionate belief in journalistic standards and training.

Organised by the Society of Editors, the awards attracted almost 700 entries, with the winners and highly commended announced in a special online event.

Rosena Allin-Khan, MP for Tooting and herself an A&E doctor, said in Bayley’s piece: “The Chancellor, the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary all said that the NHS would have everything it needs, but that’s not what I’m hearing from my colleagues on the ground.

“When they say that the NHS can have everything it needs, we need PPE, without that,people can’t keep themselves and their patients safe.

“I’m afraid many of these problems are a result of an NHS that has been underfunded for the past 10 years and the coronavirus crisis has exposed the real world consequences of that.

“One of the reasons we are clearly ramping up testing is because there are so many more patients with the virus.

“They are still currently only testing people who are sick, so if they are ramping up the testing on those that are sick, clearly more are sick. That’s the issue.”