Held hostage by the NHS: Father paralysed from the neck down after stair fall claims red tape is stopping him coming home

Daily Mail​

9 hours ago

A father left paralysed from the neck down after a tragic accident says he's being stopped from coming home to his family by red tape.
Steve Todd, 45, was paralysed after falling down the stairs at his home in Redruth, Cornwall during a diabetes induced dizzy spell.
The former holiday park maintenance manager has been in a specialist facility in Sailsbury ever since the episode back in December 2023.
He expected to be able to leave to live in his specially adapted bungalow just outside Redruth in mid-February of this year after selling his family home.
But Mr Todd says he's not able to because NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care System won't provide for his care needs unless he moves into a care home to be assessed.
He says medical professionals at the specialist treatment centre he is in now have told him he should not go to a care home because he will never get out.
The father said his life has been turned upside down since his injury.
'When they say life changing injury this is the very definition of it,' he said.
'My life has been turned upside down. I spent all of last year doing my very best to get better to be discharged mid-February this year.
'We've spent an absolute fortune getting my house ready for that.'
Mr Todd added: 'I have been told by everyone in the hospital: health care professionals, charity advocates don't go into a home, you won't get out of there.
'The "council" seems to want me to go into an old folk's home. My massive worry is if I do that it's going to be cheaper and easier to keep me there and basically, I'm never going to get home, and I'll be living with dementia patients.'
Mr Todd, who is diabetic, said the accident happened when he had a episode of low blood sugar.
He went to go downstairs to get some Jelly Babies, missed his footing and tumbled, snapping his neck.
Prior to that he was a facilities manager at a holiday park which meant he was a very active person, on his feet for most of the day.
He now has a little movement and can only wiggle his fingers.
He says there is some sensation and he can feel the injury, but it would be a miracle if he ever recovered.
The father claims the NHS body told him it can't assess his care despite him being in the hospital for 18 months.
His family say Mr Todd has been offered several interim care options, including two in community hospital settings.
However, they say none of these have had either the facilities or staff trained to care for someone with his needs.
The last option was offered in March, but this did not have the facilities to support the level of care needed, but due to a failed discharge at their end, it was withdrawn before they could visit the facility.
He said any grants he was entitled to would have taken up to 18 months to come through.
'That sort of time scheme is unbearable,' he said.
'We've absolutely gutted ourselves, spent every penny we had adapting the house making it ready for me to come home and then we've got to that date and simply nothing happens.
'I can't see it's anything other than cost, it's not going to be cheap for me to live at home. I'm going to need substantial care.'
He said at one point he was told he could go home with four one-hour visits from a carer but he needed 24-hour care.
'It breaks my heart to say that,' he said.
His wife works full time and they have a five-year-old son, which he says means she doesn't have the time and energy to look after him as well.
'The other option is for her to quit her job but that puts the whole family on benefits,' he said. 'We don't want to be on benefits, nobody does.
'I genuinely don't know how my wife has coped. She has a full-time job. We have got a five-year-old.
'She managed to sell our old house she packed everything up, bought a new house, property management of all the building work that needed doing. I just think somewhere along the line it is going to take its toll,' he said.
'Our son has amazed all of us. He's been so resilient and adjusted so well.'
Mr Todd said the whole ordeal had left his his mental health in 'absolute tatters'.
'Every day is a struggle,' he said. 'I wake up every day thinking surely today something is going to move today then I go to bed at night and nothing has.'
His son Bobby is going to be six at the end of this month and he has missed a quarter of his life and big events, including two birthdays, two of his wife's birthdays and two Christmases.
'I just feel we've lost so much as a family,' he said. 'This accident has taken so much from us already. It just feels like 'What more do we need to do just to have a reasonable family life?' I feel like I'm under house arrest, genuinely.'
Once Mr Todd leaves Salisbury, he will lose his power chair which is the property of the hospital. The family says another chair he has been promised is not ready yet.
He has been left 'horrified' by his treatment and claims there are two or three other patients from Cornwall in the rehab he is in having similar experiences.
'There are people in other places who get the help they need but it seems to be a postcode lottery for us,' he said.
'This is something you never imagine goes on. If people get hurt and injure themselves, you think they get taken care of.'
A spokesperson for NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care System said:
'We sincerely apologise for the impact this is having on Mr Todd and his family.
'It is vital that we provide the most suitable care for Mr Todd and we are working with Salisbury District Hospital to make sure that happens as quickly as possible.'