Soc Svc's wanting financial contribution to NHS care. Help!

UrbanNinja

My wife was admitted to hospital in Dember 2010 and has been in a Neuro rehab hospital since, this is funded between the NHS and Soc Svc's.

We are in receipt of ESA, CB and WTC (my wife gets the ESA as she's employed but not being paid and i've been using this to keep a roof over our two childrens' heads) this barely makes a dent in our commitments and we just about break even but now the Soc Svc's are asking me to financially contribute to her rehab voluntarily or they can MAKE ME do it as they think the ESA is my wife's money not the households and therefore i shouldn't be touching it.

I have no issue with the principle of contributing but financially cannot afford it. Do they have this power or is it scaremongering?

Advice please.

welshmoneylover

UrbanNinja wrote: »

My wife was admitted to hospital in Dember 2010 and has been in a Neuro rehab hospital since, this is funded between the NHS and Soc Svc's.

We are in receipt of ESA, CB and WTC (my wife gets the ESA as she's employed but not being paid and i've been using this to keep a roof over our two childrens' heads) this barely makes a dent in our commitments and we just about break even but now the Soc Svc's are asking me to financially contribute to her rehab voluntarily or they can MAKE ME do it as they think the ESA is my wife's money not the households and therefore i shouldn't be touching it.

I have no issue with the principle of contributing but financially cannot afford it. Do they have this power or is it scaremongering?

Advice please.

I've re-read this a few times, if your wife is in a rehab centre how can she be employed?
Why are you in receipt of ESA, do you work?

I'm sorry but I find your initial post quite confusing.

UrbanNinja

welshmoneylover wrote: »

I've re-read this a few times, if your wife is in a rehab centre how can she be employed?
Why are you in receipt of ESA, do you work?

I'm sorry but I find your initial post quite confusing.

She's still employed but not being paid anymore as her SSP stopped mid-last year but they havent terminated her contract and yes i am.

poppy10_2

UrbanNinja wrote: »

my wife gets the ESA

UrbanNinja wrote: »

they think the ESA is my wife's money not the households.

Which part of this are you having difficulty understanding?

sp1987

The bottom line (unless life's great patchwork has totally changed!) is that NHS care is free, non means tested. Social services care is means tested. If your wife has medical needs, it is NHS free care. I've no idea on how that translates into what of ESA you would need to give over if care was found to be SS care, I just have no idea.

However, if your wife is in a neurological rehab hospital it implies she is being 'medically' treated as opposed to 'care' treated. In pensioners terms (easier explanation for me to give as it is what I used to read up on) an elderly frail person who needed what I would call normal standard care (feeding, washing, their clothes cleaned etc) versus a dementia patient may need medical care (i.e. doctors or nurses intervention) or someone with x or y other health problem.

Unless I am an utter wally, I cannot see how your wife could be in a neuro rehab hospital and just be having non medical care?

Has your wife been assessed by your LHB/PCT for continuing care?! If she has, it may well be worth considering whether this conclusion is correct. There have been many cases which appeal NHS decisions on this point (for obvious reasons!).

I remember someone once mentioned that the forum for older moneysavers on here had posts about continuing care, possibly worth a look? In the alternative (or in addition) you might be helped by contacting a charity such as Age UK or whatever they are known as now. I know your wife isn't going to be a pensioner but the continuing care issue is something they will be well placed to advise on as the elderly face this issue regularly.

What you may want to do too is look at the caselaw in this area, from memory the main (this was say 4 years ago, things may well have moved on!) case on point is Coughlan, which is about a lady called Pamela Coughlan, who was not an elderly lady. I vaguely remember a Grogan or similar name too?

xylophone

http://www.nhs.uk/CarersDirect/guide/practicalsupport/Pages/NHSContinuingCare.aspx

Try CAB?

UrbanNinja

poppy10 wrote: »

Which part of this are you having difficulty understanding?

I know what these mean however before her accident we had two good incomes (in excess of what the household income is now) and our money would be pooled into the household first. This ESA replacing her income albeit substantially reduced is being pooled into the household. My responsibility is the stability of the family home and normality of our children's environment first and foremost.

UrbanNinja

sp1987 wrote: »

The bottom line (unless life's great patchwork has totally changed!) is that NHS care is free, non means tested. Social services care is means tested. If your wife has medical needs, it is NHS free care. I've no idea on how that translates into what of ESA you would need to give over if care was found to be SS care, I just have no idea.

However, if your wife is in a neurological rehab hospital it implies she is being 'medically' treated as opposed to 'care' treated. In pensioners terms (easier explanation for me to give as it is what I used to read up on) an elderly frail person who needed what I would call normal standard care (feeding, washing, their clothes cleaned etc) versus a dementia patient may need medical care (i.e. doctors or nurses intervention) or someone with x or y other health problem.

Unless I am an utter wally, I cannot see how your wife could be in a neuro rehab hospital and just be having non medical care?

Has your wife been assessed by your LHB/PCT for continuing care?! If she has, it may well be worth considering whether this conclusion is correct. There have been many cases which appeal NHS decisions on this point (for obvious reasons!).

I remember someone once mentioned that the forum for older moneysavers on here had posts about continuing care, possibly worth a look? In the alternative (or in addition) you might be helped by contacting a charity such as Age UK or whatever they are known as now. I know your wife isn't going to be a pensioner but the continuing care issue is something they will be well placed to advise on as the elderly face this issue regularly.

What you may want to do too is look at the caselaw in this area, from memory the main (this was say 4 years ago, things may well have moved on!) case on point is Coughlan, which is about a lady called Pamela Coughlan, who was not an elderly lady. I vaguely remember a Grogan or similar name too?

Thanks for taking the time to reply in such depth, we are both mid-30's so although not pensioners the results of her trauma are a form of dementia. The Soc Svc's and relevent NHS Trust have said they are anxiuos to get her out of the hospital because of the costs as she is in an on-sight bungalow with a nurse 24/7.

sp1987

UrbanNinja wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time to reply in such depth, we are both mid-30's so although not pensioners the results of her trauma are a form of dementia. The Soc Svc's and relevent NHS Trust have said they are anxiuos to get her out of the hospital because of the costs as she is in an on-sight bungalow with a nurse 24/7.

I'm not shocked as (age aside) dementia type problems seem to be the borderline where NHS says its SS and the family says it's NHS. Maybe a physical disability is easier for people to see the sheer obviousness of.

I would speak to someone with specialist knowledge on this point and hearing it does actually fall into the dementia area does enhance my feeling that this is a query for a specialist advice service, Age UK or CAB as suggested above.

xylophone

"Employed but not being paid" ...Do your wife's doctors say that she will never be capable of work again and that her condition will deteriorate?
Is she entitled to medical retirement from her job?

wiccanlou

I would try these people below for advice as they specialise in the areas of dementia, I have dealt with them in the past about my mother's alcohol induced dementia and found them to be very very clued up.

http://www.dementiauk.org/