Health bosses facing legal fight over care (From Worcester News)

Health bosses facing legal fight over care

8:00am Monday 22nd March 2010 in

By James Connell »

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THE angry families of vulnerable and disabled patients are now turning to legal experts to fight for NHS care.

Paul Bates, chief executive of NHS Worcestershire, spoke of the anger of people whose loved ones had been refused continuing healthcare (CHC) at a meeting of the trust.

At present, NHS Worcestershire faces 68 appeals from people who have sought advice from legal companies.

The money supports over-18s who have physical or mental health needs as a result of disability, accident or illness and can be paid out over a lifetime.

Mr Bates said: “No matter where we look we’re not finding a solution. In the meantime, some of the letters that cross my desk about people refused continuing healthcare are some of the most tragic, hurt and angry letters I have read. For those families our reputation is as low as it could be.”

The total number of clients in receipt of continuing healthcare as at the end of December 2009 was 434 and the cost of a single placement on average is about £30,000 a year.

The allocation for CHC is £15.9 million – £6 million more than last year.

NHS Worcestershire will go £4.2 million over budget for this financial year (2009/10) as health bosses spent £14.1 million instead of the £9.9 million put aside.

The vast majority of the cash, £12.1 million, was spent on older people or adult mental health services with a smaller sum, under £2 million, spent on continuing care for people with learning disabilities.

This time-bomb is against the backdrop of a funding black hole projected to widen to £60 million by 2013/14. Pressure is also likely to mount as NHS Worcestershire is forced to fight appeals against their decision to refuse funding.

Sandra Rote, director of clinical development and executive nurse lead, was so concerned about the amount for next year’s budget that she could only be persuaded to give her support with a proviso that more funds could be released if necessary.

She said: “We are aware that there are large legal companies going out and encouraging people to apply for continuing healthcare.

“Clearly that’s having an impact on the number of people in Worcestershire that are applying. The concern is the number of people coming through at the moment, backed by legal companies, demanding lots of information and retrospective reviews.”

NHS Worcestershire faces 68 appeals. If applicants are turned down they can apply to the Strategic Health Authority to overturn the decision. Three Worcestershire cases are being considered by the SHA.

It was agreed to sign off the budget with the suggested proviso.

Your Worcester News was the only member of the media at this part of the meeting.

Comments(5)

rugbycoach says...
12:52pm Mon 22 Mar 10

Whatever you do keep appealing keep going. It is the NHS duty to provide this care. Take it to court or judicial review if possible. I know their budget contraints dont help but you have the right to expect funding dont be fobbed off. We finally got it for mum after 2 1/2 years of fighting.Good luck and also approach http://gpss.npl.com/
nhscare/ which can inform and help you by sharing experiences with others in the same boat and experts who have been through this process

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rugbycoach says...
12:53pm Mon 22 Mar 10

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Malvern says...
1:00pm Mon 22 Mar 10

there are large legal companies going out and encouraging people to apply for continuing healthcare.
“Clearly that’s having an impact on the number of people in Worcestershire that are applying."

You make it sound like they are doing something wrong, I applaud these legal companies for helping people in to understand what their entitlements are. I understand they are doing it for a slice of the action but the alternative is to be kept in the dark and fobbed off by the Primary Care Trusts. The system for applying for CHC is very confusing it disuades people from applying for it and you will be extremely lucky to get it as there is not enough money allocated to it by central Government. It discriminates against less mentally able or emotionally upset people who neither have the wherewithall or emotional strength to fight for their rights. My Father in law is having to pay over £600 a week for his wife's care, she has Dementia and is doubly incontinent, he cared for her at home for 6 years with hardly any communication from Social Services and the NHS. As soon as he had to place her in emergency care they were all over him after the cash to pay for it. Since the responsibility for care of the elderly, etc was moved from the NHS to Social Services during the Thatcher years millions of pounds of peoples own money from their hard earned savings and properties have been propping up Dementia care services . Tony Blair promised that this would end with Labour but nothing at all has happened. It's about time people woke up to the fact that we have to pay more tax to help to pay for care of the elderly, nobody seems to care about them anymore. Remember this will probably happen to 1 in 3 of all of us.

Shame on the politicians and shame on the managers of Social Services and the Primary Care Trusts.

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jb says...
1:09pm Mon 22 Mar 10

Many families these days are having to care for elderly and disabled family members with no support whatsoever. You can read about carers strategies, support plans, funding etc but to try and get hold of a social worker is like asking for the earth. They want to keep as many people independant in their own homes for as long as they can but don't want to give any support that costs more than a bath seat or shoe horn. Recently I have asked to see a social worker regarding my adult disabled son, they sent a community nurse. I wonder if they would send a social worker to give health advice to someone? They say they work as a team but each team member has their own skills, they shouldn't be asked to do each others jobs. The awful thing is that the elderly folk who are needed the help these days are the people who have worked all their lives and paid into the system and are now let down and ignored while the cash goes on people who have contributed nothing. What a future we have to look forward to in this country.

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Furiousrelative says...
7:34pm Tue 23 Mar 10

People are turning to legal experts because they know their relatives qualify for continuing care funding from NHS Worcestershire and the rules are being deliberately interpreted in such a way to make sure that these patients are forced to sell their homes to pay for care which should be free. I have never dealt with such a callous, rude, uncaring, unhelpful, vindictive and obstructive organisation as NHS Worcestershire and it's good to know that Mr Bates is finally getting the message. It's about time. I recently saw some data about how many people per 50,000 of the population were receiving fully funded continuing health care. In Worcestershire it's a shameful 32. If neighbouring Warwickshire can fund 86 per 50,000 which is nearly THREE TIMES AS MANY then it clearly means that NHS Worcestershire is illegally rationing funded care. So yes, it's only a matter of time before many more cases from this PCT end up in court.

Health bosses facing legal fight over care (From Worcester News)

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