Rebecca Thomas

The Independent’s health editor Rebecca Thomas has a track record of highlighting the plights of the most vulnerable, relentlessly pursuing whistleblower concerns about the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and consistently spotlighting safeguarding failures by healthcare services. She has become the go-to journalist for patients wanting to speak out.

Stories include a year-long investigation into an NHS mental health nurse who police believe could be a serial rapist. Her work resulted in the NMC revealing shocking gaps in its regulation and prompted two NHS hospitals to launch independent reviews.

Thomas followed her investigative instincts after the inquest into the death of a child at children’s care provider The Children's Trust. She uncovered a pattern among the deaths of three children that exposed a litany of failings and repeated, ignored warnings about the care of patients at the unit. Police later launched a fresh probe into one of the deaths.

Another story has led to remarkable human change, with its subject Nicholas Thornton regaining his ability to speak as a result of Thomas’s reporting on his experience of living in unsuitable care homes. Thornton was able to tell his story for the first time in his own voice, choosing Thomas to help him tell it.

Judges’ comments: “Rebecca's work demonstrates what every journalist hopes to achieve: exposing wrongdoing, standing up for the most vulnerable in society to affect real-life impact and lasting change. It's investigative reporting at its best.”