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From Calpol… to Care Homes: another NHS ‘secret’ costing families thousands

• Nearly 100,000 families in England and Wales losing out on up to £72,000 per year
• Homeowners clobbered by ‘secret’ funding pot for care homes
• Families see inheritance wiped out by wrongly paying parent’s care home fees

HOME OWNERS are missing out on billions of pounds worth of care home places for their elderly parents because of a ‘secret’ NHS funding pot, say experts.

New official statistics prove families in more affluent areas are up to ten times less likely to get NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding than people in poorer areas despite being entitled to it.

The news come days after thousands of parents discovered they are entitled to medication including Calpol on the NHS.

Lawyers say the NHS is ‘shamefully’ keeping the funding secret which misleads home owners into paying privately for care homes they should be getting free and have produced a league table to prove it.

NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding is a free package of care for people with significant ongoing healthcare needs. Just 58,000 people in England currently receive it but it is believed more than 150,000 are actually entitled to it.

More than one million people have been forced to sell their homes to pay care home fees over the past five years according to research by NFU Mutual. The average cost of a UK nursing home is £738 per week – almost £40,000 a year. Some homes cost £1,500 per week.

In Tyneside, 246 people per 50,000 receive the funding meaning you are ten times more likely to secure funding than if you live in Reading where just 12 in 50,000 get the funding.

Andrew Farley, of Farley Dwek Solicitors, is acting for hundreds of families across England wrongly denied the funding:

“We’re not talking about a £2.99 bottle of medicine here we’re talking about thousands of pounds a month being wasted by families who are entitled to free care home funding.

“It doesn’t matter how much cash you’ve got in the bank or how much your house is worth. The fact is NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding is not means tested and if you qualify you should get it.

“It is shameful that local NHS professionals aren’t doing a good enough job in raising awareness of the funding. It spells the difference between paying nothing for your parent’s care in a nursing home and forking out at least £700 a week and nearer £1,500 per week in some parts of the country.”

“The assessment system is complex and it’s clear from the statistics that awareness of the funding differs across the country and I put this down to middle class families in wealthier suburbs assuming they have to pay fees of thousands of pounds per month just because they own a property or have some savings in the bank. The availability of funding is about health not wealth and I feel the NHS is quietly allowing people who they know are entitled to the funding pay for it themselves.

“It could also be that a postcode lottery system exists because the rules are wrongly being applied differently in different parts of the country by local NHS chiefs.

“It’s disgraceful that it’s easier to get funding in some regions than others and families should seek professional advice if they feel they qualify or their relative has an assessment coming up for NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding.”

NHS Continuing Healthcare funding can be used in your own home or in a care home setting where the NHS will pay for your care home fees, including board and accommodation. The funding is not means tested and is based on health assessments, carried out by local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).

Regions

England	69.9
Midlands and East of England Commissioning	69.1
South of England Commissioning	65.4
London Commissioning	56.3

Counties

Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	135.5
Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly	114.5
Leicestershire and Lincolnshire	92.3
Merseyside	83.4
North of England Commissioning	82.6
Greater Manchester	80.5
Lancashire	79.8
Essex	79.1
North Yorkshire and Humber	77.2
East Anglia	74.2
Kent and Medway	72.1
South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw	71.5
Birmingham and the Black Country	70.9
Bristol, North Somerset, Somerset and South Gloucestershire	70.5
Durham, Darlington and Tees	70.3
West Yorkshire	70.2
Shropshire and Staffordshire	69.3
Wessex	66.1
Arden, Herefordshire and Worcestershire	65.9
Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral	62.3
Surrey and Sussex	60.2
Hertfordshire and the South Midlands	56.4
London	56.3
Bath, Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire	52.8
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire	50.6
Thames Valley	30.5

Local CCG

NHS South Tyneside	246.0
NHS Sunderland	234.4
NHS Salford	213.7
NHS Gateshead	184.0
NHS Southend	161.9
NHS Northumberland	142.4
NHS Hull	140.6
NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney	129.4
NHS St Helens	129.4
NHS Cannock Chase	126.7
NHS Richmond	124.8
NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon	121.4
NHS Newcastle West	120.9
NHS Wigan Borough	120.6
NHS Lancashire North	118.3
NHS Somerset	115.1
NHS Kernow	109.2
NHS Bolton	108.0
NHS Lincolnshire East	105.7
NHS North Norfolk	105.2
NHS Wolverhampton	104.3
NHS South Devon and Torbay	103.1
NHS Havering	101.3
NHS South Manchester	100.4
NHS South Lincolnshire	100.3
NHS Calderdale	99.6
NHS East Leicestershire and Rutland	97.6
NHS Merton	96.6
NHS Solihull	96.2
NHS Doncaster	95.6
NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield	95.1
NHS Sutton	94.7
NHS West Lancashire	94.5
NHS South Warwickshire	92.8
NHS Lincolnshire West	91.8
NHS Southport and Formby	91.6
NHS Stafford and Surrounds	91.3
NHS Warrington	91.3
NHS South West Lincolnshire	90.9
NHS Thanet	90.7
NHS Castle Point and Rochford	90.7
NHS Blackpool	90.3
NHS North Kirklees	89.8
NHS Barking and Dagenham	89.5
NHS Walsall	88.7
NHS Greater Huddersfield	88.6
NHS Tameside and Glossop	88.4
NHS Fylde & Wyre	88.4
NHS Swale	88.0
NHS Newcastle North and East	87.7
NHS Halton	87.5
NHS Basildon and Brentwood	86.7
NHS Isle of Wight	85.4
NHS West Norfolk	85.4
NHS Redbridge	85.0
NHS West Leicestershire	84.9
NHS Leicester City	83.4
NHS North Tyneside	83.2
NHS West London	82.6
NHS Croydon	82.4
NHS Darlington	81.7
NHS North Staffordshire	81.6
NHS Scarborough and Ryedale	81.2
NHS Wandsworth	80.9
NHS Chorley and South Ribble	80.5
NHS Kingston	80.5
NHS North Durham	80.0
NHS Eastern Cheshire	79.7
NHS Rotherham	78.8
NHS Brighton and Hove	78.2
NHS Bedfordshire	77.5
NHS Leeds North	77.3
NHS Hardwick	76.9
NHS Knowsley	76.7
NHS Dorset	75.9
NHS Medway	75.8
NHS South Norfolk	75.6
NHS Ipswich and East Suffolk	74.4
NHS West Suffolk	74.2
NHS Sandwell and West Birmingham	74.2
NHS North East Lincolnshire	74.0
NHS Warwickshire North	72.9
NHS South Kent Coast	72.8
NHS East Lancashire	72.5
NHS Leeds South and East	72.4
NHS Portsmouth	72.2
NHS South Sefton	71.8
NHS West Kent	70.6
NHS Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley	70.3
NHS Gloucestershire	70.3
NHS West Hampshire	70.1
NHS Stoke On Trent	69.1
NHS East Riding of Yorkshire	69.0
NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby	68.9
NHS Liverpool	68.4
NHS West Essex	68.2
NHS Ashford	68.0
NHS Surrey Downs	67.6
NHS Surrey Heath	67.4
NHS North West Surrey	67.3
NHS Sheffield	67.2
NHS Bassetlaw	66.9
NHS Cumbria	66.7
NHS Coventry and Rugby	65.6
NHS South Eastern Hampshire	65.6
NHS Hounslow	65.3
NHS Fareham and Gosport	65.2
NHS Norwich	65.1
NHS Birmingham Crosscity	64.1
NHS Shropshire	63.8
NHS Thurrock	63.7
NHS Mid Essex	63.3
NHS Blackburn With Darwen	62.5
NHS Leeds West	62.5
NHS Herts Valleys	62.4
NHS Wakefield	62.4
NHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven	62.3
NHS East and North Hertfordshire	62.2
NHS West Cheshire	61.9
NHS North Lincolnshire	61.6
NHS North Derbyshire	61.4
NHS North Somerset	61.1
NHS Hammersmith and Fulham	60.8
NHS South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsula	60.0
NHS Bury	59.9
NHS East Surrey	59.7
NHS South Worcestershire	59.0
NHS Barnet	58.4
NHS Coastal West Sussex	58.3
NHS Nottingham North and East	57.8
NHS Wyre Forest	57.7
NHS Aylesbury Vale	57.1
NHS Bradford Districts	57.0
NHS South Cheshire	56.8
NHS Guildford and Waverley	56.2
NHS North East Essex	55.7
NHS Vale of York	55.3
NHS Hartlepool and Stockton-On-Tees	55.2
NHS Central London (Westminster)	54.9
NHS Canterbury and Coastal	54.6
NHS Eastbourne, Hailsham and Seaford	54.0
NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex	53.8
NHS North Hampshire	53.7
NHS Ealing	53.5
NHS Harrogate and Rural District	53.3
NHS Enfield	53.3
NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough	53.1
NHS Nottingham City	52.8
NHS East Staffordshire	52.6
NHS Greater Preston	52.4
NHS Bath and North East Somerset	52.4
NHS Lambeth	51.9
NHS North East Hampshire and Farnham	51.9
NHS Redditch and Bromsgrove	51.4
NHS Newark & Sherwood	51.2
NHS Bromley	51.0
NHS Erewash	51.0
NHS Crawley	50.1
NHS Herefordshire	49.1
NHS South Tees	47.7
NHS Swindon	47.3
NHS Mansfield and Ashfield	47.2
NHS Barnsley	47.1
NHS Waltham Forest	47.0
NHS Rushcliffe	46.7
NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale	46.7
NHS Nene	46.5
NHS High Weald Lewes Havens	45.9
NHS North Manchester	45.7
NHS Bexley	45.6
NHS Hastings and Rother	45.4
NHS Birmingham South and Central	45.1
NHS Chiltern	45.0
NHS Vale Royal	43.6
NHS Camden	43.5
NHS Nottingham West	43.2
NHS Haringey	42.9
NHS Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead	42.5
NHS Wirral	42.2
NHS Trafford	41.7
NHS Luton	41.1
NHS Bristol	40.5
NHS Central Manchester	39.3
NHS Southern Derbyshire	39.2
NHS Harrow	38.9
NHS South Gloucestershire	38.8
NHS Dudley	38.6
NHS Islington	38.2
NHS Stockport	36.9
NHS Milton Keynes	36.7
NHS City and Hackney	36.7
NHS Southampton	36.4
NHS Hillingdon	35.9
NHS Lewisham	34.7
NHS Corby	34.5
NHS Oldham	34.1
NHS Newham	33.9
NHS Greenwich	33.6
NHS Bracknell and Ascot	33.1
NHS Slough	33.0
NHS Wiltshire	32.7
NHS Southwark	29.3
NHS Telford and Wrekin	25.0
NHS Newbury and District	22.1
NHS Bradford City	21.9
NHS Oxfordshire	21.7
NHS North & West Reading	21.7
NHS Brent	20.7
NHS Tower Hamlets	20.3
NHS Wokingham	18.7
NHS South Reading	11.7

 

89-year old Frederick Pritchard was wrongly rejected for NHS Continuing Care Funding until Farley Dwek got involved

Barry Pritchard is an ex-police officer from Salisbury. Without getting lawyers involved he says his father probably wouldn’t have received the NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding he was entitled to all along…

“My father became ill with dementia and was gradually getting worse. At first, we arranged for some help from social services in his own home but it soon became clear that his needs were greater than the daily 15 minute visits allocated to him. One day my sister went round to his house only to find him injured on the floor. He had slipped and hurt himself quite badly.

We took him to hospital at the Queen Alexander Hospital in Cosham, Portsmouth where he stayed for three months.

During this time I requested that he was assessed for full NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding but was flatly denied the funding following a brief, cursory assessment by a consultant.

I wasn’t satisfied with this and my financial adviser forwarded me a press article about NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding featuring Farley Dwek and the more I read, the more I felt my father met the criteria laid down in the ‘checklist’ set out by the NHS.

This time I took no chances and hired Farley Dwek who ensured we passed the ‘checklist’ with flying colours and then sent an experienced nurse along to the full assessment alongside our family.
At first the NHS wanted to do the assessment behind our backs with three days’ notice and made it, quite frankly, difficult to get transparency on my father’s paperwork and assessment process. However, my legal team and I pushed hard and we secured the funding with the assessors confirming my father was well above and beyond the minimum criteria needed to get the funding.

With care costs averaging more than £1,000 a week in the South of England this funding is essential to ensuring my father gets the best care that he is entitled to without financially crippling the family.

It’s unfair that such a ‘postcode lottery’ exists and families have to fight so hard to get the funding. The process should be more transparent and simpler. Until then, I’d recommend anyone who feels they should be getting the funding to use a specialist law firm like Farley Dwek. That way you stand the strongest chance of getting the funding and are less likely to have the wool pulled over your eyes or suffer from mistakes made by well-meaning but misinformed NHS staff.

Andrew Farley of Farley Dwek said:

“It is unfortunate that so many families get wrongly rejected for NHS Continuing Care Funding when they clearly meet the criteria laid down in the NHS’s own guidelines. Too many people take ‘no’ for an answer and Mr Pritchard’s case proves that if you’ve got the tenacity and meet the criteria you can overturn the decision and avoid thousands of pounds a year on care home fees for your parents which they are perfectly entitled to.

“It is important to remember that it doesn’t matter where you live or what assets you have this funding is not means tested and people should not be misled about the qualifying criteria. Our evidence is that there is a ‘postcode lottery’ for this funding and depending on where you live there is a massive difference on who avoids care home fees and who doesn’t.”