Family facing £1,300 a week carers bill to allow former Oban nurse to return home

In March this year, The Oban Times reported how Oban man John Russell had marked his 80th birthday on a ward at Lorn & Islands Hospital. He has now been bedblocking there for one year while he waits for a care package to get him back to Nant Drive and his wife Teresa, who has been lobbying hard to bring him home.

Teresa, who said getting care packages in Oban was like gold dust, said the last 12 months have been ’a rollercoaster.’ At one point, it was feared that bed sores could have cost John his leg.

Physiotherapy that was promised after Teresa demanded more help started but has now stopped, she told us, with no sign of John coming home soon.

"He is deteriorating before my eyes and he’s becoming almost non-verbal now. We don’t seem to be any closer to getting him home. It’s a year now," said Teresa, who visits every day in her wheelchair.

She added: "I’ve suggested taking him downstairs and out the main doors to get some fresh air. I can’t push him myself but the ward sister has said she’ll see what she can do. We are going to have a meeting as John’s situation is not getting better, people need to know this is happening."

John could still walk when he first went into the hospital, but can no longer manage by himself. Care assessors did say he needed just one carer after initially saying it was two. They are again saying it is two, but a package has still not been found. A room at home that was kitted out for him with a hospital bed delivered last year remains empty, waiting for his return.

Teresa said: "I’ve had apologies come to me from the Health and Social Care Partnership via the media including The Oban Times and the BBC but they have not apologised directly. Why can’t they pick up the phone themselves?".

Earlier this month, Teresa and John’s battle to get him home was featured on the BBC’s Reporting Scotland, highlighting the crisis of long waits for care packages.