Just let me go home to my family, begs brain tumour mum

A woman battling brain tumours has begged her husband to get her out of hospital where she feels isolated after family visits were stopped due to Covid-19.

Bill Hudson and wife Carol

Bill Hudson has been calling on health chiefs to let him visit his wife Carol, who is in East Lothian Community Hospital, in Haddington.

And he has revealed his anguish after Carol, 55, from Gullane, made a desperate call to him this week pleading: “I want to come home.”

Journalist and musician Bill, 65, had been allowed to make brief 20-minute visits to see his wife when she was transferred to the hospital from a hospice towards the end of February.

However, those visits stopped at the start of this month and he has not seen Carol since April 6.

Carol has been battling cancer for six years and is receiving care for a second inoperable tumour.

Bill fears the mother of two grown-up sons, could be facing her final weeks alone and has appealed to health chiefs to let him visit her.

He said: “I hadn’t heard anything from Carol for three or four days as her phone isn’t always charged.

“She called me asking, When are you going to pick me up?’ She said, ‘I want to come home’, it was just devastating and so worrying.

“All the medical equipment we had in the house to support her was returned to ensure it could be used by others while she is in hospital, now I have to work out what to do next.

“If I was just able to visit her I know it would be easier on her and me. As it is I just feel helpless.”

Dr Tracey Gillies, medical director, NHS Lothian said: “We cannot comment on individual cases without patient consent, but would urge the family member to contact the senior charge nurse at the hospital to discuss their concerns.

“NHS Lothian, in line with national guidance, has suspended patient visiting to limit the spread of coronavirus and to protect vulnerable patients, as well as staff.

“Visiting does take place in specific circumstances, including for patients receiving end-of-life care.”