I posted this earlier on the legal thread. Just got home after an emotionally exhausting morning. Unfortunately but not surprisingly we were not successful in our independent panel review meeting.
On the panel was a the chair, an academic who has had many years of experience in CHC claims, a nurse and a project manager from the NHS, again all with expertise in looking at CHC and two nurse assessors from the local health board.
In a nutshell they basically agreed with the DST That the LHB had done in april, we argued each point as much as we could and managed to increased mums scores slightly up in the ASC and behaviour domains and but it didn't make an overall difference.
They gave her
Behaviour - moderate
Psychological and emotional - low
Cognition - severe
Communication - high
Mobility - high
Nutrition - moderate
Continence - moderate
Skin - moderate
Breathing - no needs
Medication - no needs
ASC - moderate
They looked at the 4 key indicators and decided that despite mum having no cognition, doubly incontinent, needing intervention for every single thing, completely immobile that none of these was a primary health need.
Any argument about 'well managed needs' were swept away as apparently if needs are managed enough not to be a need it doesn't count?
Mention of the coughlan case or the Grogan case was pretty much pooh poohed as apparently it wasn't a test case so It doesn't count?
basically every way we turned one or the other of them had a quick answer so we just couldnt get anywhere.
We left feeling really disappointed naturally, I did have the final say and told them that it was disgusting that people with a genuine illness can be treated this way - at this point I became a bit tearful so we left.
So there. We have driven home and wondered exactly how Ill you need to be to be successful. All along the past 5 years she has been in care we have been told she doesn't qualify as she's not Ill enough but now she's so ill she's almost at deaths door she still doesn't qualify.
My Son has just turned 16, funny how he recieved his national insurance number a few weeks ago - they are quick enough to want to start taking his contributions....the whole system stinks.