Six days ago he was unnamed but presented across the board by the British press as a “bed blocker” – someone who “refused to leave hospital for two years” and has cost the British taxpayer £340,000.
Since then stories have become even more critical, but now his identity is out: Adriano Guedes arrived in the UK from Portugal 15 years ago to “work as a union rep”.
He suffered a stroke in 2014, and is a paraplegic.
When he was asked to leave his hospital bed in Norfolk after recovering from the stroke, he is understood to have “unnecessarily refused”.
The reason for Guedes’ sudden ‘media exposure’ is that the James Paget University Hospital in Norfolk finally secured a court order to evict him.
The order was granted on December 1 and Guedes was “removed” just over a month later (January 10), and “placed in accommodation in the community”.
Hospital director of governance Anne Hills told the BBC that the decision to take out the court order was “the last resort”, “not taken lightly”, but that the priority of the hospital has to be in “considering the needs of all our patients”.
Thus Guedes has been removed to a council flat where he is now allegedly on hunger strike.
The Sun has made much of the “bed blocking”, claiming that after being taken to his new home, Guedes “refused to enter the building, or sign any documents despite the presence of social workers, carers and paramedics”.
Neighbours reported seeing Guedes “slumped” in a wheelchair on the pavement for around seven hours on the day he was taken to the flat – and when he “finally agreed to enter the house, he fell on the floor” the Sun continues.
Guedes is presented as someone who is taking advantage of facilities that should be available to others.
But the 63-year-old has a very different take on the situation, and says he always “wanted to leave” hospital, but that the authorities “always offered what they knew I would refuse”.
Now Guedes daughter Tânia has told Portuguese media that her father is “living in one room, without conditions”.
The Secretary of State for the Communities is said to be “vetting” the situation, as Guedes has told UK’s Meteo news website from his bed that: “You cannot imagine how it is to be mistreated”.
He says he is “just waiting for a way out. Either things work out or I pass away”.
