Woman stuck for 18 months on an NHS ward evicted from her hospital bed

"I feel very angry, upset, worthless, and like my mental health and my life does not matter," says Jessie, propped up in a hospital bed.

She is recording this in a video diary. Blue NHS curtains are drawn around the bed and all her possessions are stacked up in the tiny chaotic space this creates.

Among the piles of boxes and bags sit the dolls she holds to keep her calm.

Thirty-five-year-old Jessie spent 550 days in Northampton General Hospital. For nearly all that time, she was medically fit to leave but finding her a suitable place to go to was difficult.

The BBC has followed her story for more than five months as the NHS trust took costly High Court action against her, to have her evicted from the hospital bed she was occupying.

Jessie was eventually arrested and taken to a care home where she says she feels anxious.

Her story is an extreme example, but it demonstrates the acute pressures faced by a care system coping with more complex cases, the knock-on effect to the NHS, and how the person at the heart of it can feel lost.

North Northamptonshire Council, which is responsible for her housing and care, says it cannot comment because of an ongoing police investigation into Jessie's behaviour.

The hospital says it "is not the best environment for patients who are not in need of acute medical care".

The Department of Health and Social Care has told the BBC: "This is a troubling case which shows how our broken NHS discharge system is failing vulnerable people."

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Source: BBC News, 8 February 2025