Paralysed patient who lost both his legs in a car crash had to pay £800 for mattress to help with bed sores in hospital

• Nick Copson was billed £833 and six months on has not been reimbursed

A patient had to pay for his own mattress in hospital – because bosses had failed to settle bills.

Nick Copson, who lost both his legs and was partially paralysed in a car crash, needed the special mattress to help with bed sores.

But the specialist bed supplier for the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough refused to provide one because it was owed £9,000.

It was delivered only when Mr Copson agreed to pay himself. The 50-year-old police chef was billed £833 for a week’s hire and six months on has not been reimbursed.

‘I’m disgusted I had to pay for my own mattress inside an NHS hospital,’ he said. ‘The specialist bed I must have is what the hospital has told me I need, it isn’t a lifestyle choice.

Nick Copson, (pictured) who lost both his legs and was partially paralysed in a car crash, had to pay for his own mattress in hospital – because bosses had failed to settle bills

Mr Copson (pictured) needed the special mattress to help with bed sores. But the specialist bed supplier for the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough refused to provide one because it was owed £9,000. It was delivered only when he agreed to pay himself

‘Then I got to hospital and found they hadn’t been paying their invoices. It’s a big institution and it’s not as if it’s their own money, it’s taxpayers money.’

The father of three’s life was almost killed in his 2018 car crash and had a double leg amputation at the hospital. 

He lives in an adapted rented bungalow near Stockton in County Durham, cared for full time by his wife Nikki and professionals paid for through compensation.

The Copsons have been paying £95 a day to hire a mattress for him at home to reduce skin pressure. But frequent returns to hospital have proved necessary.

And when he was admitted in January it emerged that the bed supplier, Medstrom of Derby, was boycotting the hospital.

Mrs Copson, 55, said: ‘Medstrom told us “We’re not sending any more beds to James Cook because we are owed thousands going back almost a year”. I was panicking. Eventually it was agreed Medstrom would send the bill to the spinal injuries management company we pay to help care for Nick.

He lives in an adapted rented bungalow near Stockton in County Durham, cared for full time by his wife Nikki (pictured with Mr Copson) and professionals paid for through compensation

‘We thought it would just be £95 for a day, but it ended up being £833, and we have never been paid back.

‘It’s not Nick’s choice he needs this mattress. James Cook was pivotal in saving Nick’s life, but the later failures that led to his bedsores and now this bill for his own mattress, while in an NHS hospital, are completely disgraceful.’

A spokesman for South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs James Cook, insisted ‘patients are never required to pay for the hire of hospital equipment’.

A source at Medstrom told the Daily Mail: ‘James Cook hospital is only one of a number of NHS hospitals who are months in arrears – and while patient needs are central to what we do, as a private company we do have to be paid.’

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