We shall not be moved: Mother and daughter who have been living in a hospital room for FIFTEEN months costing taxpayers £180,000 won't return to 'racist' Grimsby despite being offered a new home

Ruth Kidane has rare degenerative disorder leaving her confined to a wheelchair
21-year-old was initially admitted to Barnet Hospital with respiratory problems
She and mother Mimi Tebeje live at hospital after claiming they were homeless

Ruth Kidane has become one of the most familiar faces at Barnet Hospital in North London.

The 21-year-old, who has a rare, degenerative muscle-weakening disorder, is very happy here and loves the staff.

‘They’re brilliant,’ she said in a barely audible voice when we met this week.

Ruth is confined to a wheelchair and sometimes has difficulty breathing, eating, swallowing and even speaking, all of which she faces with a quiet resilience.

It is impossible not to warm to Ruth, or fail to be moved by the devotion of her mother, Mimi Tebeje, 50, who is a constant presence at her side.

But behind the undeniable hardship of Ruth’s daily existence is another story.

One which has inflamed public opinion, angered patient groups, and placed Ruth, her mother and Barnet Hospital at the centre of controversy.

The reason is this: for the past 15 months, Ruth and Mimi, who are originally from Ethiopia, have been living at the hospital.

‘Living’ might seem like an odd word to use here, but actually it’s an accurate one.

Ruth, you see, is not a patient. Not really. A patient is someone who needs nursing care or medical treatment.

Ruth is disabled but she is not ill. Twice a week, for example, she attends college, where she is studying basic English and maths, and she enjoys days out with her mother, who sleeps next to her on a fold-up bed in an en-suite room on a general ward which should be used to treat the genuinely sick.

How did this farcical situation come about? The simple answer is that Ruth was initially admitted to Barnet Hospital with respiratory problems after arriving in London in July last year and, within weeks, was declared fit to be discharged.

In normal circumstances, she would have been, of course. But Ruth and Mimi, who’d been living in Grimsby before coming to London, claimed they were homeless and had nowhere to go.

Hospitals can obtain possession orders to evict patients from a bed, but the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Barnet, has chosen not to issue legal proceedings.

So, more than a year on, Ruth and Mimi are still ‘guests’ at Barnet Hospital at the taxpayers’ expense — and will be, it seems, for the foreseeable future.

Their application for social housing in the borough has been turned down and they are refusing to return to Lincolnshire, where the council has offered them a new home.

Understandably, the case has caused public disquiet at a time when the beleaguered NHS is being stretched to the limit.

The average daily cost of a hospital bed, according to the Department of Health, is about £400 — so £12,000 a month.

It means the cost, to date, of accommodating Ruth is about £180,000.

More seriously, the debacle must have resulted in patients being denied a hospital bed.

Back in Grimsby, where the family were housed after being granted asylum from Ethiopia 16 years ago, some of those who know Mimi believe she is simply ‘playing the system’ to stay in London.

Her elder daughter, who left Grimsby for the capital some years ago, is based in London and has just had a baby.

‘No, no, no,’ Mimi insists when the accusations of playing the system are put to her. TV stations and newspapers have all been trying, unsuccessfully, to interview Mimi since the scandal came to light earlier this week, but she chose to speak to the Mail about the events which have thrust both her and Ruth into the spotlight.

Many sick people are waiting for beds. I just don’t feel I have any choice. We don’t have anywhere to go and Ruth would be on the street if we were forced to leave.’

She admits her former home in Grimsby — a specially adapted bungalow on a new estate where there is a four-year waiting list for properties — was ‘very nice’ and she had ‘no complaints’ about the accommodation itself.

They left, she says, only because they were subjected to racial abuse and harassment in the town.

Police, however, have informed the authorities in Barnet that there is ‘no current risk’ to Ruth and Mimi in Grimsby.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6399279/Mother-daughter-living-hospital-room-FIFTEEN-months-costing-taxpayers-180-000.html

They receive three meals a day but no medical treatment? How does that work? Is the NHS B & B now?

Research by several leading universities, including Oxford, found that up to 8,000 people die every year because of bed-blocking on NHS wards. A shortage of beds for patients who need urgent surgery often leads to the cancellation of operations.

Hospitals obtained 413 possession orders to remove patients from beds in 2016.

How does a bed cost £400 a day? Does that include the care of the patient and stuff like drips, oxygen, etc?

I can't believe they have no shame over this. How can anyone use a hospital as a B&B, and why are they letting them do that? They should at least have to pay for food. It's this lack of gratitude and sense of entitlement which annoys me about many people these days.

Raggamuffin wrote:How does a bed cost £400 a day? Does that include the care of the patient and stuff like drips, oxygen, etc?

One would think so, but then it's saying that all they get is meals. Either way, they're taking up a much needed bed. It's really not on. As for them being hounded by racists, I think that's not wholly the real reason they are there. It's probably easier for them to be in the hospital where meals are cooked, there's no bills, etc.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:How does a bed cost £400 a day? Does that include the care of the patient and stuff like drips, oxygen, etc?

One would think so, but then it's saying that all they get is meals.   Either way, they're taking up a much needed bed.   It's really not on.  As for them being hounded by racists, I think that's not wholly the real reason they are there.  It's probably easier for them to be in the hospital where meals are cooked, there's no bills, etc.

They even have their own room. That might be needed urgently for someone who needs to be in isolation. I presume they would move them if that happened.

It's wrong. Hospitals are for people who are ill not homeless...or worse, picky about where they want to live..

HoratioTarr wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:How does a bed cost £400 a day? Does that include the care of the patient and stuff like drips, oxygen, etc?

One would think so, but then it's saying that all they get is meals.   Either way, they're taking up a much needed bed.   It's really not on.

The availability of the bed is not the subject...tu quoque.  If they are receiving no medical treatment, the cost is simply one of changing sheets, and that's not £400/day.  I could provide them with all the beds they want, if they would split the £400/day with me.

BTW, are they black or Muslim?

Should deport them back to Ethiopia...!

Tommy Monk wrote:Should deport them back to Ethiopia...!

Oh...Ethiopia. I was wondering why the usual suspects were up in arms.

Original Quill wrote:

HoratioTarr wrote:

One would think so, but then it's saying that all they get is meals.   Either way, they're taking up a much needed bed.   It's really not on.

The availability of the bed is not the subject...tu quoque.  If they are receiving no medical treatment, the cost is simply one of changing sheets, and that's not £400/day.  I could provide them with all the beds they want, if they would split the £400/day with me.

BTW, are they black or Muslim?

They get free food as well. For me, it's not even the cost which is the main issue anyway, it's the fact that they see nothing wrong with getting something they're not entitled to. They have no consideration for ill people who are entitled to that room. It's all take, take, take, and they give nothing back.

Original Quill wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:Should deport them back to Ethiopia...!

Oh...Ethiopia.  I was wondering why the usual suspects were up in arms.

Wrong. The issue would be the same if it was white British people. However, it has to be said that they were already given asylum and a house, and yet they still want more - without giving anything back.

Original Quill wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:Should deport them back to Ethiopia...!

Oh...Ethiopia.  I was wondering why the usual suspects were up in arms.

It doesn't matter if they're sky blue fucking pink! They are not entitled to use the NHS as a freebie. They've been offered accommodation and refused it. The NHS is on the bones of its arse, or so we keep being told, and nobody, not matter what colour or creed, has the right to use it as regular accommodation. I would have posted this if they'd been British born white. But, of course, you're just on this thread to stir up more of your shit, aren't you?

Raggamuffin wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

Oh...Ethiopia.  I was wondering why the usual suspects were up in arms.

Wrong. The issue would be the same if it was white British people. However, it has to be said that they were already given asylum and a house, and yet they still want more - without giving anything back.

What he's posted is just more shit stirring as an excuse to scream Racist at every opportunity.

My, my...methinks they do protest muchly. At least the point reaches them.

Original Quill wrote:My, my...methinks they do protest muchly.  At least the point reaches them.

So you're not going to discuss the issue of the waste of NHS resources just because they're from Ethiopia. Isn't that a bit racist?

Original Quill wrote:My, my...methinks they do protest muchly.  At least the point reaches them.

Who is THEM Quill....is it something like the OTHERS.....or the BORROWERS, ghostly little beings that are different from the norm?
Are you trying to divide the forum up with 'them and us'...men v women, cons v labour, Democrats v republicans....people with a brain v people without.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

Wrong. The issue would be the same if it was white British people. However, it has to be said that they were already given asylum and a house, and yet they still want more - without giving anything back.

What he's posted is just more shit stirring as an excuse to scream Racist at every opportunity.  

Yes. I'm sure he'd want to discuss it if it was a middle class white person occupying a room.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Original Quill wrote:My, my...methinks they do protest muchly.  At least the point reaches them.

So you're not going to discuss the issue of the waste of NHS resources just because they're from Ethiopia. Isn't that a bit racist?

So far, I've only commented at the profits of the medical center. As an aside, because of all the hub-bub and who was commenting, I asked about ethnicity of the subjects.

To this point I have not really been engaged in the core discussion. I just address the things that interest me.

Original Quill wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

So you're not going to discuss the issue of the waste of NHS resources just because they're from Ethiopia. Isn't that a bit racist?

So far, I've only commented at the profits of the medical center.  As an aside, because of all the hub-bub and who was commenting, I asked about ethnicity of the subjects.

To this point I have not really been engaged in the core discussion.  I just address the things that interest me.

Perhaps you should stay out of it as you know nothing about our NHS system anyway.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

So far, I've only commented at the profits of the medical center.  As an aside, because of all the hub-bub and who was commenting, I asked about ethnicity of the subjects.

To this point I have not really been engaged in the core discussion.  I just address the things that interest me.

Perhaps you should stay out of it as you know nothing about our NHS system anyway.

I have stayed out of it.  I've only commented on certain peripheral matters.  It's y'all who have been chasing after my points, making them central.