Copyright dailyrecord
A family have made a desperate plea for help for a Scots granddad “trapped” in a Tenerife hospital . Colin McLeish and his wife Anne had been on holiday celebrating his 70th birthday when the dad-of-four fell ill as they prepared to fly home from their break in Playa de las Américas. Over a week later, Colin, from Cleland, North Lanarkshire, remains in a private hospital on the holiday island , where its feared he may have suffered a stroke. But the family say Anne, 65, is only permitted to see her husband for 30 minutes a day and has been left in the dark over his condition and treatment. His son, Colin junior, said the family has now been forced to crowdfund to cover the costs of the ordeal after the granddad-of-nine’s insurance company pulled the plug on funding as medical bills reached £18,000. Colin said: “It was dad’s 70th birthday and we had secretly booked a holiday for him and my mum. “On October 19 they were at the airport ready to travel home and my dad started vomiting and being sick. “A doctor said he wasn’t fit to fly so they got an ambulance for him and took him to a private hospital. “On the Tuesday they put my dad into intensive care because they said he was deteriorating. “This just came out of the blue from nowhere. My dad keeps himself fit and healthy is a very active man who still works in traffic management on the roads. “The hospital are not communicating properly with my mum and we’re in a situation where we really don’t now what is happening to him.” Anne signed a declaration to allow Colin to undergo an MRI scan last week but the family say they are still unsure what exactly is happening with his care due to a breakdown in communication. They have questions over certain procedures and medications detailed in his medical notes, which they say they were unaware of. Colin’s daughter Patricia is also in Tenerife, trying to assist her mum, but the family now want him to move to a different hospital or be flown home to Scotland. Colin jnr said: “There was one day last week my sister was there and he was speaking away and remembers everyone but the last few days he’s been sleeping, completely out of the game, and there’s no communication between him and my mum or sister. “There is a doctor speaking Spanish with a translator in broken English and the conversations are very brief. “Mum has questioned the medication he’s on. They gave my sister notes in Spanish and when we translated them we were confused by some of the drugs listed. The notes say they’ve done a lumber puncture and all sorts of procedures on my dad that they’ve not communicated to my mum or explained. “We as a family essentially do not know what is happening to my dad in that hospital. “We’ve been in touch with the British Consulate and we’re trying to get him moved.” The family say Colin’s insurance company informed them at the weekend that they would no longer cover his medical bills because he had not declared a urine infection in 2022. A crowdfunder launched by the family had raised £12,000 within a matter of hours on Tuesday. Colin said: “His medical bill up until Saturday was £18,000. “We’ve been paying for the hotel for my mum and sending her money but we’ve now had to get together as a family and start Go Fund Me page, because we’re not financially able to keep funding this. “Luckily the page has taken off and we’re really grateful. But we’re really at a loose end and don’t know what to do next. It’s heartbreaking.” The Record has contacted the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
