Woman's Hour Radio 4, 12.11.09 Continuing Care story

[DeborahBlythe]

A fascinating interview with a lady called Pauline Hardinges is broadcasting now about her battle to get Continuing Care for her mother with Alzheimer's.

 

[Lynne]

Dementia Care - Who Pays for It?

65 year old Pauline Hardinges won a £30,000 refund from the NHS for the money she spent on caring for her mother who has Alzheimer’s.
Pauline successfully appealed to get her costs reimbursed, and her Primary Care Trust paid out, on the condition that she signed a secrecy agreement.
After signing this, Pauline decided to break her silence. She joins Jenni to explain why.
So what are a family’s financial entitlements when caring for a relative with dementia?
What’s the difference between social and medical care and how does this impact on funding?
Phil Spiers, Chief Executive of FirstStop, a free and independent service that provides advice and information for older people, and Sarah Pickup, Honorary Secretary of The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services join Jenni to discuss the issues.

OOps, well that link didn't work, so I've deleted it; please see Sandy's post below.

 

[DeborahBlythe]

Thanks Lynne.

I see NHSBaby also posted about Pauline's case on an earlier thread on TP.

http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?t=19390

 

[Lynne]

Thanks for that Deborah , I hadn't made the connection.

 

[Sandy]

Hi Everyone.

I think this is the link to the Woman's Hour site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ntnkf

The link that Lynne posted was the actual audio file, but the one above should allow you to use the Listen Again feature on the BBC's website.

I heard this item myself and thought it was a very good way to cover what is a difficult issue.

Take care,

 

[Natashalou]

Making people sign secrecy agreements is a bit worrying...what do they have to hide?

 

[CraigC]

Great link thanks Deborah and Sandy!
Very interesting.

I totally agree Natashalou, secrecy agreements must mean that someone has something to hide, or at least that they are keeping the lid on the pot.

Kind Regards
Craig