Continuing Care Funding Advice and Appeals

[flower1]

Thank you for all your kind responses, which I have read and have taken on board the information and advice given. I am in the process of trying to arrange Mum's next review (as I have not heard anything from the CHC dept) so I will have to chase as 12 months is nearly up, then again it took them 3 months to confirm the verbal decision given to me in writing as they said they are behind on their cases... what a surprise?? Shame the care bills sent monthly don't get behind... Thank you again and I will keep fighting not just for me but for anybody else out there going through the same process. Never give up on being that spokesperson for the ones you love x

 

[LesleyC]

We are in the same situation. Our mother has been in Care since 2008 and has been refused NHS Funding. I have been looking at information on the internet including YouTube videos of Pamela Coughlan who the Courts say anyone with the same or greater needs than her should receive NHS Funding. Pamela Coughlan only scored 2 Moderates and 4 Lows It is clear from the descriptions of illness on this thread that this criteria is not being applied. There is also an excellent video by Luke Clements of Cardifflawschool about NHS Continuing Care. Another source of information is the Care to be Different website - there is lots of free advice on there. I have obtained a copy of the National Framework for Continuing Healthcare and NHS funded Nursing Care, the NHS Continuing Care Checklist and the Decision Support Tool. Looking through this information, I cannot believe that people with the issues our loved ones have are being refused funding. We have a review meeting coming up in March so I am currently gathering as much information and evidence to support our case as I can. (I found the information regarding swallowing and aspiration given earlier really useful as this also applies to our mother). I hope some of this information is helpful to others in this horrible situation.

 

[dominicana]

So sorry to hear you are struggling to get funding when your mums deteriorating health will be causing you such distress. Your mum sounds similar in condition to my mum. We were refused funding twice but I kept on appealing and they then granted it. My advice would be to download the paperwork for continuing healthcare assessment (its a huge document) and try hard to understand it and how your mum's conditions fits into each section. Make loads of notes of all your mum's conditions and problems and don't assume the assessor knows anything as they have only met your mum for 10 minutes and have looked at the homes care records. These records are of variable quality and may not give the whole picture, so it is up to you I am afraid to complete the picture. Go to the review meetings with a relative or friend who can understand and also support you and your mum. Most importantly get the help of the volunteers from Alzheimer's Society who have such a lot of expertise and experience of winning appeals. They helped me with information and emotional support and encouragement. Unfortunately, this funding is reviewed each year and you have to go through the whole process again, which can be stressful. Keep on fighting.

I was using the Alzheimers volunteers, but they have now been disbanded and are no longer available. A great shame and it has left me and others in the lurch.