Disabled man 'rotting' on a hospital ward - despite being fit to go home

A disabled man says he has been left "rotting away" in hospital for the last eight months after his local NHS board stopped his 24-hour home support.

Ravi Mehta, who has a life-limiting disability, was admitted to hospital in September 2025 for a routine appointment to fix his ventilator settings.

He was supposed to go home three days later - but months on he is still stuck in a hospital ward.

The 36-year-old, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, says he was told "from the beginning" that he is medically fit to go home. However, the budget he received from his local NHS integrated care board (ICB) to pay for the staff he needs to support him at home has now ended.

Mehta, who needs two healthcare assistants 24 hours a day, says every unnecessary day on the ward feels like precious time "fading away".

He previously had a personal health budget (PHB) - NHS funding designed to give people more flexibility to create the support they need to live their life. But it was terminated by the ICB, which is responsible for planning and funding local health services.

Mehta believes his care board wants him to accept a model of care that is cheaper or more restrictive than the one he says he actually needs.

He told the BBC he is now being "pressured" by the NHS to go into a care home, instead of back to his family home, where he had a job, went to football matches and saw his friends.

Mehta says the support he would receive in a care home would make his life much more restricted.

"I feel like they see me as the person that needs too much care and support - more than they want to give."

NHS South East London ICB said they "strongly refute any suggestion that decisions in this case have been driven by cost."

The BBC has seen letters to Mehta suggesting that if he did not accept the offer of a care home he may be charged daily rates for staying in hospital.

If he self-discharged, he says he was told all his care would be terminated.

"I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place," Mehta says. "There are moments when I genuinely fear I'll never leave."

NHS South East London ICB did not respond to these specific allegations when approached by the BBC.

The BBC has heard from other disabled people who say they too are being left "stranded" in hospital as disputes over their NHS-funded care outside of hospital go on for months.

Campaigners and patients believe care boards are increasingly scrutinising complex care packages, such as Mehta's, to save on costs.

This means he, and others, are being pushed towards more traditional, risk-averse options, like agency care or a care home, say complex care experts.

Although Mehta's ICB has denied their decision-making in his case has been driven by cost, the BBC has seen a letter to Mehta's representative from NHS South East London's lawyers, citing "cost-effectiveness" as a reason why a package of care in someone's own home might be refused "in some instances".

A former NHS leader, Frances Tippett, said that for some disabled people needing the highest support, "it feels like the clock is being turned back" away from support that is planned together with the person living it and towards more restrictive types of care.

Before his admission, Mehta, a graduate in business management, worked part-time for a charity supporting others with Duchenne.

Now he says he feels as though he is "rotting away for no reason" in a hospital room.

He says his physical condition has worsened while being in hospital, that he is weaker, more dependent on his ventilator and finding it harder to drive his wheelchair.

Mentally, he says he feels isolated, anxious and depressed.

"Instead of living my life, I'm stuck in hospital where my life has essentially stopped," he says.

Mehta says he is trapped in a dispute with NHS South East London ICB over the type of support and budget he needs to return home safely.

"It feels like I've been treated inhumanely," he adds.

NHS South East London ICB said Mehta's was a "longstanding and complex case", and that the board recognised "how difficult and distressing a prolonged hospital stay can be for Mr Mehta and his family".

A spokesperson said the ICB's actions had been "guided by clinical safety, governance responsibilities, and the need to find a viable long-term solution that meets Mr Mehta's assessed needs".

They added: "The ICB has gone beyond usual arrangements to put appropriate support in place, including funding above the agreed directly commissioned and personal health budget during the process of procuring another specialist provider identified by Mr Mehta.

"Dedicated staff have been recruited, trained and risk-assessed to support his care needs upon hospital discharge.

"We remain committed to working with Mr Mehta, his family, and partners to reach a constructive way forward and to supporting a safe discharge as soon as can be enabled."

Lucinda Ritchie is facing similar issues.

She too has complex clinical needs and requires the sort of expensive care package that campaigners say is being scrutinised by ICBs to balance budgets.

The BBC first investigated her case in February, when the 33-year-old was moved from hospital to a nursing home against her will.

For eight years, Ritchie had been living in her own adapted bungalow in West Sussex, with 24-hour nursing support, organised and paid for by NHS Sussex.

She was studying for a master's degree in sustainability and has twice been recognised as one of the most influential disabled people in the UK, in the Disability Power 100 list.

After a prolonged stay in hospital, Ritchie had expected to go home but was moved in February to a nursing home, a one-hour drive from her home and family. Within two days, Lucinda's condition deteriorated and she was returned to hospital.

Ritchie has full mental capacity and was entitled to refuse the placement.

However, she says her electric wheelchair was powered off and she was manually pushed into an ambulance while continuing to protest.

NHS Sussex and Surrey ICB said it had commissioned a nursing home for Ritchie's safety - but it has never explained how moving her without her consent was justified legally.

When asked by the BBC if moving Lucinda was unlawful, the ICB said it was the hospital who had moved her. East Surrey hospital suggested they needed the bed back for others, and said all such moves are thoroughly planned with the patient.

Following the BBC's reporting, Ritchie's experience quickly became the subject of wider scrutiny.

In early March, her case was raised in the House of Lords, where crossbench peer Baroness Jane Campbell warned of what she called a "backward slide from independence to dependency and exclusion" for disabled people.

Three months later, Ritchie remains in Tunbridge Wells Hospital, occupying one of the unit's nine intensive care beds.

In a social media video recorded from hospital, she asked people to "rescue" her, adding: "This is akin to torture. What is the point of my life?"

Tippett, a former NHS England boss who led on personalised care, told the BBC the result was "despairing".

She says disabled people are having "their lives made wretched", hospital staff are "witnessing harm", and "taxpayers are footing the bill" for hospital beds needed by others.

NHS Sussex and Surrey ICB said: "We are deeply sorry to hear that Lucinda and her family have ongoing concerns about her care.

"Our priority is to ensure that there are plans are in place for Lucinda to leave hospital, and she is able to receive safe, high-quality support that meets her needs.

"We are working with our partners, and will ensure we involve Lucinda and her family, to plan together for her long-term care at home."

NHS England policy says care should be focused on "what matters to people and their individual strengths and needs".

Care plans are expected to be "co-created with patients" and people should be given "significant choice and freedom".

But Tippett, who now chairs the charity Coalition for Personalised Care, says the reality is moving in the opposite direction.

She says, since an NHS restructure in 2022, integrated care boards have been under intense pressure to balance budgets while losing staff with the skills and knowledge to design complex, "person-centred" packages.

Meanwhile, a care package is one of the few parts of NHS spending where the cost of an individual is highly visible.

Tippett says when budgets are under strain, "high-spend" individuals can stand out.

She says taxpayers are left funding costly, unnecessary hospital care with no one "winning."

An NHS England spokesperson said: "We do recognise that on occasion, delays do occur and sometimes we don't meet the expectations of our patients, services users, and carers. Whenever this does go wrong for individuals, there are clear process for appeals to be made to ICBs."