Sepsis hell for Renfrewshire man who lost legs, arm and hand

Mrs McQuade, a nurse, said they have already exhausted their savings due to his illness and are now reliant only on her part-time wages and Mr McQuade's sick pay as an IT specialist.

Mr McQuade, a quadruple amputee who relies on an electric wheelchair, currently has a short-term funded place at Montrose Care Home in Paisley.

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The council-run facility is set to close in the coming months as part of cost-cutting measures voted through by Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) in March.

Renfrewshire Council has now offered Mr McQuade a one-bed ground-floor council flat in Renfrew, although sources at the HSCP insist that this is unrelated to the care home closure as Mr McQuade's placement there was always a temporary one. 

However, the couple will have to furnish the property themselves and pay rent while Mrs McQuade and their daughters - aged nine and 12 - remain at the family home in Bishopton.

"If we can’t have the house adapted, that’s the only choice we’ve got - but it's a total nightmare," said Mrs McQuade, 50.

"Our family is being forced to live apart."

The family's misery began days before Christmas in December 2022.

Mr McQuade had been decorating his mother-in-law's home when he noticed a tiny cut on his finger.

On December 22, he began to feel run down with an upset stomach and flu-like symptoms.

"To be honest, I thought it was 'man-flu'," said Mrs McQuade.

"Then, in the early hours of Christmas Eve, he woke me up and said ‘look, I really don’t feel well, you’re going to have to take me to the hospital’.

"I said ‘what’s going on?’ and he said ‘I’ve got a tiny cut in my finger and I think I’ve got an infection'.”

Fiona McQuade said her husband is 'very low' following a traumatic battle with sepsis, which has left him wheelchair-bound (Image: Gordon Terris/Herald&Times)

Within hours of dropping her husband off at A&E at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley, doctors phoned to say he was being rushed into theatre as they tried to save his finger.

By the afternoon, Mr McQuade was in intensive care and his wife was told that medics did not expect him to survive into Christmas Day.

"That was all within about 14-15 hours of me dropping him off at A&E," said Mrs McQuade, who met her husband on a blind date arranged by a mutual friend in 2001.

Tests revealed that Mr McQuade had Strep A - a bacterial infection - which had triggered sepsis, where the body's immune system attacks its own tissues and organs.

Doctors bombarded Mr McQuade with intravenous antibiotics as he went into multi-organ failure.

He nearly died several times over the following weeks and, in February 2023, surgeons had to remove both his legs below the knee, his left forearm, and his right hand.

He was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and then to Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where he remained until August 2023.

Scott McQuade was fit and healthy before he was struck down by sepsis, which has left him in a wheelchair as a result of quadruple amputations (Image: supplied)

Mrs McQuade said her husband's recovery has been partly hampered by a lack of specialist inpatient rehabilitation.

A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said rehab facilities are available for patients with Mr McQuade's physical disabilities but it could not comment on individual cases "due to patient confidentiality".

She added: "Clinicians would have advised if these were appropriate for Mr McQuade’s treatment plan."

In August last year, Mr McQuade suffered a trauma-related breakdown and had to be admitted to Leverndale psychiatric hospital, and then Dykebar mental health facility in Paisley.

Following a string of wound infections which mean he is so far unable to be fitted for prosthetic limbs, Mr McQuade was re-admitted to the RAH and from there into Montrose care home.

Mrs McQuade said: “We were told he would get lots of rehab, that he would coming home in the June, and as soon as his legs were healed he’d be 'up and running'.

"What actually happened is there was no impatient rehabilitation. His wounds haven't healed yet.

"We were told that there would be adaptations to the house – we’ve not had any.

"He is currently in Montrose Care Home in Paisley, and now it’s closing. And we're on our seventh social worker."

Mr McQuade was discharged from the GRI in August last year, after eight months as an inpatient in NHS GGC hospitals (Image: PA)

Due to his wheelchair, Mr McQuade would have to live downstairs if he moved back into the family home in Bishopton.

However, there is currently no bedroom or accessible bathroom.

Mrs McQuade proposed converting the garage attached to the house into a bedroom for her husband and creating a wet room.

A private contractor advised her that this could be done easily at a cost of just under £20,000.

However, Mrs McQuade said they have been told they are ineligible for funding.

Depending on household income, local authorities will cover between 80% to 100% of home adaptations where it is assessed as a "priority need".

Mrs McQuade said: "We can't self-fund it - our savings are gone.

"We used them up because I was off with stress, trying to cope with everything that's happened. I only went back to work in August.

"We've been told we don't qualify for to anything. Scott was told it's 'not a priority' because he could just 'live in the living room'.

"But he'd have to wash in the sink in the downstairs toilet with carers coming in four times a day."

Sources said that alternative options, such as installing a stairlift and upstairs wet room, could be considered, and insist that the process has been complicated by uncertainty as to whether Mr McQuade wished to move permanently into a council flat or return home.

A spokesman for Renfrewshire HSCP said: “We cannot comment on the details of individual cases.

"However, we are in ongoing discussion with Mr and Mrs McQuade and are working to support them to find a solution for their circumstances, which covers the short and longer-term."

Mr and Mrs McQuade on their wedding day. The couple met on a blind date set up by a mutual friend in 2001 (Image: Gordon Terris/Herald&Times)

Mrs McQuade says Finding Your Feet - a charity for amputees set up by sepsis survivor Corinne Hutton - has been "the only thing that's kept [Scott] going". 

She said: "They’ve been very good at keeping in touch with him and he’s been able to meet with other amputees.

"There’s a camaraderie with that.”

She is now hoping to raise at least £500 for the Paisley-based charity by taking part in the Glasgow KiltWalk on April 28.

“We want to make sure that no one else is left in the situation we are, because families aren’t getting the help when they need it," said Mrs McQuade.

A spokesman for Finding Your Feet said issues relating to housing for amputees "have been more common in recent years". 

He added: "Problems with living conditions and accessibility are by no means uncommon, but Scott is in the relatively unique position of losing both legs and hands rather than just one amputation.

"It quite literally makes life four times harder, and makes his requirements, certainly in the early stages, extreme.

"Everything has to be done differently, and that’s scary when you have to figure most of it out yourself.

"We’re in direct contact with the appropriate people to push for extended physical rehab in Glasgow for cases like this one and are speaking to our MP about the housing issue, both for Scott, others who are currently struggling and any future amputees."

Corinne Hutton, founder of Finding Your Feet, has been helping the McQuades (Image: Kirsty Anderson/Herald&Times)

Local MP, Gavin Newlands, has taken up Mr McQuade's case with the HSCP. 

He added that he was concerned during a recent visit to Finding Your Feet by the "lack of support" available to people with limb loss, including "access to rehabilitation, suitable accommodation, and financial assistance for those whose properties require adaptations".

Mr Newlands said: “Clearly this is a serious situation for Mr McQuade and his family and the priority has to be resolving the blockages that seem to have occurred as quickly and sensitively as possible, and whatever help I can bring to bear on that I am happy to provide.

“Mr McQuade’s case, and that of so many others, highlights the wider challenges amputees face and the role of our healthcare system in helping them meet those challenges, a point I’ve raised with NHS GGC to see what further could be done to guarantee the best support possible.”