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A report from the BBC revealed a ‘dark’ and ‘controversial’ situation that has occurred over the years in hospitals in the United Kingdom: non-sick people who spend years, and even decades, in hospitals.
The starkest example of this is given by the case of Charles Esler, 62-year-old man who spent 50 of those years hospitalized in a hospital in Scotland, located near Glasgow.
Charles had learning disabilities and epilepsy. His family, at that time, sought professional help for the child, but they did not expect that the hospital entity’s response would be to lock him up for life.
It was his sister Margo who fought to get him discharged, to take him to a place where he could find greater peace of mind.
But luck, at that moment, luck smiled for the first time on the family, since the state of the United Kingdom gave him an apartment.
Man was hospitalized for 50 years without being sick
“Don’t think this is a fairy tale story. This was not an overnight process. Many people have participated and it has taken almost 14 years to find the right place,” said Margo.
“Everyone should have someone who can make sure they don’t treat you just like a number,” he added.
For his part, Charles maintains that: “Now I can go out and go places, go to the little pub down the street and have lunch there.”
“I like fish and chips. I feel very good. I had never had freedom before,” she added.
Man was hospitalized for 50 years without being sick
But the case of Charles Esler is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’, the aforementioned media emphasizes, since an investigation determined that it is a situation that is repeated more than is believed.
According to BBC Scotland, hundreds of people are currently trapped in hospitals in that country, most of them with learning disabilities.
All of the above despite state promises to allow the majority “could settle in their own homes.”
However, the data obtained by the chain shows the opposite, since the number of those “trapped” in hospitals in Scotland has increased.
In this way, official information details that patients with learning problems have increased 173 to 191 from 2022 to date.
Added to this is that the national registry of boarding schools far from home grew by no less than 12 percent, going from 1,243 to 1,398.
The former Hartwood Hospital in Scotland
Separate Freedom of Information requests made by BBC Scotland to all health boards in the country found that more than 120 people with learning disabilities had been in hospital for more than a year.
This includes 28 who have been hospitalized for more than 10 years and four who have been hospitalized for more than 20 years at the hospital.
Two years ago the BBC discovered people with learning disabilities were trapped in hospital.
But the record did not stop there, since it was also announced that, recently, more than 120 people had been hospitalized for more than a year, without serious illnesses.
Added to this is that 28 were in health facilities for more than 10 years, while four remained for just over two decades.
For now, the authorities of that country emphasize their commitment to moving forward with the issue, but at the same time they fear that it will not be easy.
“We are absolutely determined to move forward on this issue. But as this information shows, it is difficult to solve,” said Scotland’s Social Care Minister, Maree Todd.
