Pensioner 'cannot pay' Lewes hospital eviction bill

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-37619394

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A pensioner evicted from the hospital bed she occupied for 14 months has said she cannot pay the £8,000 legal bill she faces.

Diane Price, 79, was transferred to a rehabilitation unit at Lewes Victoria Hospital in East Sussex after breaking her leg in a car crash last May.

She refused to leave despite doctors telling her she should return home.

Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust won a possession order in the High Court to free up her bed.

Mrs Price, from Hailsham, was ordered to pay £8,000 costs.

The unit at Lewes Victoria Hospital has 26 intermediate beds to help patients' transition between an acute hospital and home.

The trust said the usual stay was 14 days, but Mrs Price said her mobility did not improve enough.

"I refused to leave because I couldn't come home like that," she said. "I would have gone anywhere else - any care home, anywhere they would offer me. They offered me nothing."

Mrs Price was discharged from Lewes Victoria at about 10:00 BST on Monday and is being looked after by her daughter and carers.

She said she did not have £8,000 to pay the costs.

"It's ridiculous," she said. "If I had £8,000 I would be spending it on being looked after somewhere else."

The trust said Mrs Price was resident on the ward for over a year despite not having had any clinical need or potential for further rehabilitation for some time.

"Every effort has been made to provide the necessary support for the patient to leave the facility, and to ensure the appropriate support would be in place once they had returned home," it said in a statement.

"However, they have refused to leave.

"After exploring every other option, the Trust regretfully was left with no alternative but to pursue legal proceedings."