Farley Dwek Solicitors are a specialist provider of legal services in relation to issues arising around care home and nursing home funding in England and Wales.**
If you, or a relative, or a friend, are already in care or about to go into care, you should have your eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding assessed first. This includes where you are paying for care in the home.
If you have “primary health needs” the NHS should pay for 100% of your care home fees.
What is NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding?
NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding is the mechanism through which the NHS pays “in full” for a person’s care, without the need for any means testing, where that person has primary health needs.
The NHS has an established procedure to assess a person’s eligibility, but unfortunately, all too often, assessments aren’t carried out properly, or even carried out all.
- Awareness about NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding is low and the assessment process is complex and often adversarial.
- In addition, people are often incorrectly means tested first, for their ability to pay for their care, rather than having their health needs properly assessed first.
- In 2014 the NHS confirmed that only 58,000 people were receiving NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding, but we estimate that over 100,000 more people could be eligible for funding.
- The NHS has already admitted that thousands of people have been wrongly assessed and have paid care home costs that should have been funded by them.
- The general public needs better clarification about the distinction between healthcare needs and social care needs and the impact this has on the fees people have to pay for their care.
- Healthcare is provided by the NHS and is FREE to everyone at the point of use, whereas social care is provided by Local Authorities and is means tested.
- If a person has primary healthcare needs then the NHS should pay for their care in FULL regardless of their financial position.
- So, ACT NOW and get our FREE GUIDE to see if you are eligible for funding, or contact us today for a FREE Initial Assessment
Are you eligible for Funding?
People often miss out on Funding in many circumstances, including:
- People who are discharged from hospital straight into a care home.
- People whose eligibility has been assessed and rejected, whose condition subsequently worsened.
- People who received NHS Nursing Care – which pays for the nursing, but not accommodation – who never had an assessment for the benefit that would also have paid for their accommodation.
- More affluent patients who assumed no help would be available. NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding is NOT means-tested so if you qualify for health reasons, you get it.
- People who are being cared for in their own home – NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding does cover the cost of care in the home, not just Care Home costs.
- And of course, the many people who were simply NOT told about the availability of NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding, or were told that they wouldn’t be eligible without an assessment taking place.
If you are not eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding, then you should take advice about how you can protect your assets in the future.
You should also take advice about the other options available to help you plan for the costs of long term care.
Dealing with relatives in care can be stressful and as well as funding there are other legal issues you will need to deal with. These include making sure that you have the legal authority to deal with relatives affairs by setting up Lasting Powers of Attorney.
If you are currently paying for Care or have paid for Care in the past, Farley Dwek can help you in a number of ways.
Free Initial Assessment
Whether you need help with an existing assessment, or help to recover previously paid care home fees – we can help.
The first step in either process is for you to call us and explain your circumstances. We will listen and provide you with a FREE initial assessment of your situation. We won’t charge for our time or any initial advice we may be to provide you. If we think we can help we will explain our services to you and what they cost, but you are under no obligation to use any of our services, it’s that simple.
In any event, please feel free to download our FREE GUIDE, or ask us to send you a copy in the post.
So why not call us for FREE today on 0800 011 4136.
View our free initial assessment page.
Clinical Review Service
Our Clinical Review Service is designed to help families to understand whether their relatives could be eligible for Funding.
We offer two services. The first is where one of our experienced nurses will undertake a review of your relatives circumstances and eligibility for funding, based on the information you provide to us and provide you with a written report.
The second, more comprehensive service is where we will send one of our experienced nurses to visit you and your relative in their care environment to carry out an independent review of their care needs. The review will follow the same criteria used by the NHS in carrying out a Full Assessment. You will receive a detailed report setting out our nurse’s assessment of your relatives care needs, which will help you to understand their needs and whether they may be eligible for funding.
We offer these services on a Fixed Fee basis.
To find out more about our Clinical Review Service, speak to one of our friendly solicitors now for a FREE INITIAL ASSESSMENT.
Call us for FREE today on 0800 011 4136
View our clinical review service page.
Advisory Service
Our Advisory Service is designed to help those families who are already paying for care.
If we think you are eligible for Funding (from the information provided to us in the Questionnaire or after we’ve carried out our Clinical Review Service), our experienced team of nurses will act as your advocates, representing you through the Checklist, Full assessment and Appeals process if necessary, to secure your Funding.
We offer this service on a No Win No Fee* basis, which means that if we are not successful in securing Funding, it won’t cost you anything.
To find out more about our Advisory Service, speak to one of our friendly solicitors now for a FREE INITIAL ASSESSMENT.
Call us for FREE today on 0800 011 4136
View our advisory service page.
Supported Assessment Service
Our Supported Assessment Service is designed to help those families who have already started the assessment process themselves and are awaiting a Full Assessment date.
We will arrange for one of our experienced team of nurses to accompany you at the Full Assessment meeting, as your relatives advocate. Our nurses will support you through the meeting, using their experience to challenge the NHS Assessors where they feel that your relatives needs are not being properly assessed or considered. The Full Assessment meetings are often challenging and adversarial and it can be invaluable to have a fully qualified and experienced nurse fighting your corner.
We offer our Supported Assessment Service on a Fixed Fee basis.
To find out more about our Supported Assessment Service, speak to one of our friendly solicitors now for a FREE INITIAL ASSESSMENT.
Call us for FREE today on 0800 011 4136.
View our supported assessment service page.
Help with Appeals
It may be that you have already started the process of requesting an Assessment for your relative yourself; or, you may have used our Free Guide, or the Care to be Different website to help you to start the process.
Many families have already worked through the funding process themselves, without the need for any assistance. Many are successful, but others are not so fortunate and find themselves frustrated by the NHS appeals process.
If you need help with an Appeal, we may be able to help. The first stage is for us to assess your relative’s eligibility through our Clinical Review Service.
If you would like to know more about our Appeals Service, please do not hesitate to call us today on 0800 011 4136 or 0161 272 5222 or Contact Us online and we will call you back.
View our Appeals Service page.
Reclaims Service
You could be entitled to reclaim care home fees if you have already paid those costs if you should have qualified for NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding, whilst you were in care.
We offer a Reclaims Service to recover these unfairly paid care home and nursing home fees..
Often we act for families of relatives who have previously paid for their care and can reclaim costs even after a relative has passed away.
To find out whether you might be entitled to recover your care home fees, speak to one of our friendly solicitors about a FREE INITIAL ASSESSMENT.
If we think you might be able to recover your nursing care costs, we will act for you on a No Win No Fee * basis, so it won’t cost you a penny if we can’t recover your care costs.
Call us for FREE today on 0800 011 4136
View our reclaims service page.
Reclaiming Top-up Fees
If you or your relative have been paying ‘top-up’ fees to a care home, you may be entitled to repayment.
Top-up fees is a complicated and often misunderstood area, and you could be paying care fees unnecessarily.
We will review your contractual paperwork, advise whether you have a claim, and can provide legal expertise and litigation services to help you recover unlawfully charged top-up fees.
To find out more about our Top-up Fees Service call us for FREE today on 0800 011 4136
View our Reclaiming top-up fees page.
Pressure Sore Litigation
Are pressure ulcers normal and just part of getting old?
No. Pressure ulcers are not normal, and don’t occur spontaneously on their own.
They are caused primarily by pure neglect or failure to adhere to or implement guidelines as to their assessment and management. If a pressure ulcer develops you may well have a claim for negligence.
View our Pressure Sore Litigation page.
Lasting Power of Attorney Service
Whether your parents or relatives qualify for NHS funding or not, if they have to go into care, you will need to set up a Lasting Powers of Attorney in order to be able to deal with their affairs in the event that they lose the capacity to make their own decisions.
If you do not set up Lasting Powers of Attorney, you will have to apply to the Court to grant you the power to deal with their affairs, which can be expensive and time consuming.
To find out more about our low fixed cost Lasting Power of Attorney Service call us for FREE today on 0800 011 4136
View our lasting power of attorney service page.
Free Care Funding Guide
We have produced a FREE GUIDE to help you understand your entitlement to NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding and how you can legally reduce your liability for your future nursing home costs.
Please feel free to download our FREE GUIDE with no obligation.
More Help with Care Costs Planning
Even if you are not entitled to NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding, there are a number of ways in which we can help you to reduce your care costs and plan for your future care home funding, including:
View our more help with care costs planning page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Please have a look at some of the most Frequently Asked Questions about Care Funding and our Services.
View our Frequently Asked Questions page.
* – Subject to terms and conditions
** – Please note that the funding system and rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland are different from those in England and Wales and unfortunately we DO NOT provide any advice or services to patients whose care is being funded or provided in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
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