The novichok poisoning victim Charlie Rowley is being treated in hospital for meningitis and sight problems but is hoping to be discharged within a month.

Rowley said he was happy with what doctors had told him and was optimistic he would be able to leave hospital soon.

Speaking to ITV News from his hospital bed Rowley said his eyesight had improved but was not yet fully restored and said there was still “a bit of meningitis in the system”.

Rowley, 45, and his partner, Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill on 30 June in Amesbury, four months after the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, suffered novichok poisoning in Salisbury. Sturgess died but Rowley was discharged in July. He was readmitted to Salisbury district hospital last month.

The hospital said on Tuesday that it would not talk about individual cases but said: “To reiterate what we have said previously, we are not currently treating anyone for nerve agent-related illnesses.”

Rowley’s older brother Matthew was more pessimistic about his brother’s condition. He said: “I spoke to doctors and nurses and they say it doesn’t look good. He has been diagnosed with meningitis. He has also lost use of all his limbs. Charlie’s speech has changed completely – the tone of his voice is almost incoherent. He sounds like a child, like a 10-year-old boy.”

When Rowley was discharged from hospital, health chiefs made it clear he had been decontaminated but he posed no risk to the community. He is said to be on a ward with six other people, which suggests strongly that doctors do not believe he is still suffering from the effects of novichok.

Rowley said previously that the novichok which poisoned him and Sturgess had been contained in a perfume bottle which he had found. He has not been able to tell police where he found it.