A 63-YEAR-OLD man left hospital yesterday after the longest period spent in hospital receiving Covid treatment in Scotland.
Neil McLaughlin was taken to hospital on November 21, and ended up spending 167 days in intensive care as he battled the virus. Doctors believe that is the longest time for any coronavirus patient in the country.
The man was filmed thanking staff at University Hospital Hairmyres in East Kilbride as he prepared to go home and open gifts that have been waiting for him since Christmas.
Hundreds of hospital staff waved him off as he headed home with partner Wendy Busby.
“I’m going home after six months in hospital, and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said in a video clip.
“A bad attack of Covid-19 – which is [meant to be] the usual seven days, but it turned into something much worse. It was basically a cough, but my partner who’s from a nursing background decided to get me a Covid test, so I went and did that. It came back positive, again didn’t think too much of it. But that week I deteriorated quite badly, and that resulted in me being admitted here at about 5 o clock in the morning, or something like that.”
McLaughlin said at the start of the pandemic, he was “a bit cynical” about it all – but urged people to get a test if they have symptoms and take it seriously.
READ MORE: Scottish dad thanks NHS life savers after five-week virus battle
The video, posted online by NHS Lanarkshire, shows a consultant physician describe McLaughlin’s discharge from the hospital as a “fantastic day”.
“Neil had no problems with his health in the past, and I think this emphasises the point that anyone and everyone has a potential of getting coronavirus. So I think it’s important for us to try and get our vaccination rates up, continue to do testing and even with the restrictions easing we still need to follow the rules because if the cases continue to rise we’ll have more and more patients coming in, and not everyone will be as lucky as Neil," he said.
McLaughlin and his partner then thanked all the staff at the hospital. “You’ve all been amazing, and I’m going to miss you,” he told them.
As he prepared to travel home, he said he was most looking forward to “making a fuss of the dog” and having a nice meal.
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