A coronavirus patient who was on the same hospital ward as his wife of more than half a century hopes to get home to see her on Monday, saying they have “never been apart”.

James ‘Jim’ Tierney, 85, and his wife Mary, known as May, 83, ended up in separate rooms on a coronavirus ward at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert after testing positive for the virus.

The couple, from Camelon, Falkirk, were taken to hospital more than a fortnight ago after Mr Tierney collapsed at home and he was so unwell he cannot remember much of his stay.

Now sitting by his hospital bed no longer wearing an oxygen mask, he told the PA news agency: “I was falling in the bathroom, falling in the bedroom. I landed in hospital and I know nothing until I really came up into here and I was getting better.

“Until that, I was oblivious. But the nurses in here, the doctors, they’ve worked wonders. They’ve brought me on.

“I was on oxygen and you had to get rid of that so you were better, so that’s what I worked on.

“The treatment has been first class. I feel really good now, I’m wanting home to see the wife.

“She was two doors down or something but she’s at home now.

“She’s doing well it seems, she’s picked up.”

He said she visited him while she was still in hospital but since she was discharged he is unable to have visitors.

Mr Tierney added: “All I want is home to see the wife. We’ve been together 50-odd years. We’ve never been apart.

“It’s a long day and that’s it and you’re just hoping all the time to get home.”