The work of Sunday Post journalist Janet Boyle in campaigning for a test for the killer pregnancy condition pre-eclampsia has been recognised at the prestigious Scottish Press Awards.
Boyle’s seven-year crusade was recognised when The Post won the hard-fought Campaign of the Year award at the event on Thursday evening.
The paper’s “Test Today, Save Lives Tomorrow” campaign resulted in the licensing of the test for use in Scotland, and then the Scottish Government agreeing to provide extra funding for it.
Pre-eclampsia, which affects as many as one in 10 pregnancies, risks babies being born too early to survive and their mothers ending up in high dependency or intensive care units because of organ failure and seizures.
Boyle began her campaign for the adoption of the Placental Growth Factor (PlGF) test – which then cost just £60 each – back in 2018. Working with the charity Action on Pre-eclampsia (Apec), she told the harrowing stories of mums-to-be who had experienced the deadly condition. The Scottish Health Technologies Group finally approved the PlGF test in March 2023 – but the struggle was not yet over.
A year on from that decision, Boyle revealed health boards were struggling to due to a lack of testing capacity and problems with infrastructure.
Boyle and Apec resumed their campaign – this time calling for the Scottish Government to ensure the test was being made available. Finally, in September last year, the Scottish Government announced it was giving NHS boards £259,000 to make tests for pre-eclampsia available to all women at risk.
Hailing Boyle’s win, Marcus Green, CEO of Apec, said: “It could only happen with the courage and ambition of The Sunday Post, who were brilliant in listening to harrowing stories from women and then treating those stories with dignity and sensitivity.
“The Sunday Post was relentless in pursing the truth and winning hearts and minds. Together we made the unnecessary suffering of women and their families in Scotland the most important health story of last summer and this recognition of the Sunday Post and especially Janet Boyle is richly deserved.”
Sunday Post editor David Lord said: “This is exactly what campaigning should be – identifying an issue that has a real impact and relentlessly examining and exposing it to ultimately achieve meaningful and lasting change.
“Janet worked tirelessly on the Test Today, Save Lives Tomorrow campaign and this award is just recognition of her remarkable efforts. Real people trusted Janet with their intensely personal stories – were it not for their bravery we could not have achieved this fantastic result.
“The award represents a victory for all of those who will now be offered pre-eclampsia tests. To say Janet’s work could save lives in this instance is no exaggeration.
“The Sunday Post is absolutely committed to using whatever influence we may have for the good of society, and we are all delighted to see that commitment paying off.”
Boyle is now campaigning for lifelong health check-ups for all women who have experienced the condition.
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