Disabled man 'rotting' on a hospital ward - despite being fit to go home

Now he says he feels as though he is "rotting away for no reason" in a hospital room.

He says his physical condition has worsened while being in hospital, that he is weaker, more dependent on his ventilator and finding it harder to drive his wheelchair.

Mentally, he says he feels isolated, anxious and depressed.

"Instead of living my life, I'm stuck in hospital where my life has essentially stopped," he says.

Mehta says he is trapped in a dispute with NHS South East London ICB over the type of support and budget he needs to return home safely.

"It feels like I've been treated inhumanely," he adds.

The BBC has seen letters to Mehta suggesting that if he did not accept the offer of a care home he may be charged daily rates for staying in hospital.

If he self-discharged, he says he was told all his care would be terminated.

"I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place," Mehta says. "There are moments when I genuinely fear I'll never leave."

NHS South East London ICB did not respond to these specific allegations when approached by the BBC.

But they said it was a "longstanding and complex case", and that the board recognised "how difficult and distressing a prolonged hospital stay can be for Mr Mehta and his family".

A spokesperson said the ICB's actions had been "guided by clinical safety, governance responsibilities, and the need to find a viable long-term solution that meets Mr Mehta's assessed needs".

They added: "The ICB has gone beyond usual arrangements to put appropriate support in place, including funding above the agreed directly commissioned and personal health budget during the process of procuring another specialist provider identified by Mr Mehta.

"Dedicated staff have been recruited, trained and risk-assessed to support his care needs upon hospital discharge.

"We remain committed to working with Mr Mehta, his family, and partners to reach a constructive way forward and to supporting a safe discharge as soon as can be enabled."

Lucinda Ritchie is facing similar issues.

She too has complex clinical needs and requires the sort of expensive care package that campaigners say is being scrutinised by ICBs to balance budgets.

The BBC first investigated her case in February, when the 33-year-old was moved from hospital to a nursing home against her will.

For eight years, Ritchie had been living in her own adapted bungalow in West Sussex, with 24-hour nursing support, organised and paid for by NHS Sussex.

She was studying for a master's degree in sustainability and has twice been recognised as one of the most influential disabled people in the UK, in the Disability Power 100 list.

After a prolonged stay in hospital, Ritchie had expected to go home but was moved in February to a nursing home, a one-hour drive from her home and family. Within two days, Lucinda's condition deteriorated and she was returned to hospital.

Ritchie has full mental capacity and was entitled to refuse the placement.

However, she says her electric wheelchair was powered off and she was manually pushed into an ambulance while continuing to protest.

NHS Sussex and Surrey ICB said it had commissioned a nursing home for Ritchie's safety - but it has never explained how moving her without her consent was justified legally.

When asked by the BBC if moving Lucinda was unlawful, the ICB said it was the hospital who had moved her. East Surrey hospital suggested they needed the bed back for others, and said all such moves are thoroughly planned with the patient.

Following the BBC's reporting, Ritchie's experience quickly became the subject of wider scrutiny.

In early March, her case was raised in the House of Lords, where crossbench peer Baroness Jane Campbell warned of what she called a "backward slide from independence to dependency and exclusion" for disabled people.

Three months later, Ritchie remains in Tunbridge Wells Hospital, occupying one of the unit's nine intensive care beds.

In a social media video recorded from hospital, she asked people to "rescue" her, adding: "This is akin to torture. What is the point of my life?"

Tippett, a former NHS England boss who led on personalised care, told the BBC the result was "despairing".

She says disabled people are having "their lives made wretched", hospital staff are "witnessing harm", and "taxpayers are footing the bill" for hospital beds needed by others.

NHS Sussex and Surrey ICB said: "We are deeply sorry to hear that Lucinda and her family have ongoing concerns about her care.

"Our priority is to ensure that there are plans are in place for Lucinda to leave hospital, and she is able to receive safe, high-quality support that meets her needs.

"We are working with our partners, and will ensure we involve Lucinda and her family, to plan together for her long-term care at home."

NHS England policy says care should be focused on "what matters to people and their individual strengths and needs".

Care plans are expected to be "co-created with patients" and people should be given "significant choice and freedom".

But Tippett, who now chairs the charity Coalition for Personalised Care, says the reality is moving in the opposite direction.

She says, since an NHS restructure in 2022, integrated care boards have been under intense pressure to balance budgets while losing staff with the skills and knowledge to design complex, "person-centred" packages.

Meanwhile, a care package is one of the few parts of NHS spending where the cost of an individual is highly visible.

Tippett says when budgets are under strain, "high-spend" individuals can stand out.

She says taxpayers are left funding costly, unnecessary hospital care with no one "winning."

An NHS England spokesperson said: "We do recognise that on occasion, delays do occur and sometimes we don't meet the expectations of our patients, services users, and carers. Whenever this does go wrong for individuals, there are clear process for appeals to be made to ICBs."