A Moray pensioner is trapped in hospital after breaking his hip because council officials “cancelled” his care at home.
Bill Heaton, from Brodie, suffered the fracture three weeks ago after falling over and has been in Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, ever since.
It is understood a surgeon tried to send the 85-year-old home last Friday following his treatment.
But Mr Heaton’s power of attorney and close friend, Adrian Gray, was told that he could not be discharged as the local authority had pulled his at-home carers.
Last night, Moray Council said it had not received sufficient warning of Mr Heaton’s expected release date – and that it was “normal” to reallocate carer resources in those situations.
But Mr Gray said it was horrendous that Mr Heaton should be stuck in hospital any longer through no fault of his own.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. What were they expecting him to do in hospital? Die?” he said.
“We weren’t told until last Friday he was coming out. I phoned the council as soon as I knew.
“The council talk about all these rules, but they are not practical.
“They have obviously got a problem with shortages of carers and it is simply not good enough.”
Mr Heaton has suffered a medical nightmare in the last seven months.
In April, the retired lorry driver left for a holiday in America with Mr Gray as a perfectly fit man.
However his health rapidly declined during the trip, and he returned suffering from a mystery illness which has left him unable to balance or walk without aids.
As his illness took hold, he blasted staff at Forres Health Centre who gave him Strepsils for a punctured lung.
After switching practices, he said his general care improved and that the council’s home care service helped him adjust.
However, no further progress has been made in diagnosing the bizarre illness that led to his latest fall and current stint in hospital.
A Moray Council spokesman said: “When someone is admitted to hospital, we will normally keep their care package open for around seven days, although that may vary depending how long they remain in hospital.
“Where someone has been in hospital for three weeks, it would be normal to close the care package and utilise resources elsewhere.
“We would normally expect to be informed when discharge from hospital is approaching, so that the appropriate level of home care can be assessed since an individual’s requirements may well have changed in the interim.
“In this case, it does not appear that we received this information.”