Covid patient leaves hospital after Scotland's longest ICU stay
A man has left hospital after the longest spell of Covid treatment in Scotland - including 167 days in intensive care.
Neil McLaughlin was admitted to University Hospital Hairmyres in East Kilbride on 21 November.
He quickly deteriorated and had to be put on a ventilator days later.
The 63-year-old finally left hospital on Friday, looking forward to opening presents that have been waiting for him since Christmas.
Hundreds of staff including nurses gathered at a distance in the hospital reception and on balconies to say goodbye as he headed home, accompanied by his partner Wendy Busby.
"I'm just glad to go - it's been that long now, six months," he said. "You keep thinking there's light at the end of the tunnel and all of a sudden it's there.
"It's very humbling. It's fair to say a lot of the staff clapping I've never met before but because I've been in hospital so long everybody gets to know your story."
PA MediaDoctors believe Neil's spell of intubation as a result of Covid-19 is one of the longest - if not the longest - in Scotland.
The treatment was administered just four days after he was admitted to hospital - although he believed his cough was down to a simple cold.
"Wendy has a nursing background so she decided to book a Covid test - it came back positive," he said.
"I wasn't feeling well, wasn't sleeping well, I felt very claustrophobic. So after a lot of phone calls to the NHS and doctors I was admitted to Hairmyres."
Neil, from Chapelhall near Airdrie, remembers "bits and bobs" of his first five weeks in hospital - but Wendy said she recalls every detail while waiting at home for news on his condition.
"I can tell you dates of everything," she said. "[I was] thinking he's going to get better, he has to get better.
"But there's always this niggling thing at the back of your head - thinking other folk don't."
'The staff gave me comfort'
Wendy described Neil's time in ICU as a "constant roller coaster" - but relief finally came on the first day she was able to speak to him.
She said: "There were tears everywhere from me because they let me hear him over the phone. Apparently, all the nurses and doctors had been in tears as well.
"The staff were absolutely amazing, not only amazing with Neil but for myself - the comfort they gave me when I used to phone up. And, as Neil says, it's not just the doctors and the nurses."
PA MediaAfter five months in a bed, Neil said his muscles were "wasted" and he will need to attend community physiotherapy - but he is "glad to be here in one piece".
As he headed home, he said he was looking forward to having a nice meal, "making a fuss of the dog" and finally opening his Christmas presents.
He said: "I've had to learn how to walk again, lying in bed for so long... they've all been fantastic, even down to the people who made the tea.
"The funny thing is, I never had any doubt that I would get better."
