Care Fee Refunds

Dawn0845

A relative of mine was diagnosed with vascular dementia almost 3 years ago and has since been in a care home. The fees for the care home have taken our life savings and as a result, we are having to sell her home.

Although she receives fantastic care at the home she is in, I have recently been made aware that it should be the NHS paying the fees and that I can claim back what I have already paid. Does anybody know if this is true? If so, how do I go about claiming it back? Thanks.

Mojisola

I would get in touch with the Alzheimer's Society - https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?&documentID=399

They are campaigning to get care home fees for dementia patients paid by the NHS.

It's very difficult and very time consuming as it will be argued that she only needs "care" and not "nursing" but worth having a go.

cb2012_2

I am in a similar situation, my mother is currently in care for ms and several strokes, she has been in care for 2 years now. The fees are considerably getting higher and we have already gone through all our family savings and her state pension, our next step is to sell her home which we really do not want to do. Is this just for residents with alzheimer's?

barbara125

this isn't just for dementia patients, its for anybody with a primary health need

Dawn0845

What is a primary health need?

Torry_Quine

Dawn0845 wrote: »

A relative of mine was diagnosed with vascular dementia almost 3 years ago and has since been in a care home. The fees for the care home have taken our life savings and as a result, we are having to sell her home.

Although she receives fantastic care at the home she is in, I have recently been made aware that it should be the NHS paying the fees and that I can claim back what I have already paid. Does anybody know if this is true? If so, how do I go about claiming it back? Thanks.

Why were you using your own savings to pay the care home?

bella66

Dawn

What is a primary health need is very difficult to define. However the PCTs use an assessment tool to assist them in determining who is eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare. This tool can be found on the Department of Health website and you need to look for the National Framework and Decision Support Tool for NHS Continuing Healthcare.

I also read in the Daily Mail that there is a deadline for retrospective reviews. Therefore if someone has been in a care home before March 2011, they need to register their claim before the 30 September 2012. This is for retrospective claims only. Sadly, I don't think the PCTs are telling people but it is a crucial deadline

awayinchina

the assessment tool is called "QUALY" you can google it and get all the details from that.
Basically it measures the requirements of the patient against the quality of life (NHS keeps this very quiet).
Read up on it

orchid2010

We have recently been through this with MIL. It comes down to how much NURSING care the person needs.

If they just need lots of personal care they don't cover it. As well they have a capped rate (the rate for our area is £495 per week) so if the care home costs more than this a 3rd party has to agree to pay the difference. A lot of dementia patients qualify but not all and it can take several weeks for all the assessments to be done.

barbara125

I had the same problem, My dad went into a care home for 4 years suffering from Dementia, the fees I paid were ridiculously high, I researched into it and found that there was a possibility to claim back the fees, So I contacted a local solicitors.

McKneff

Dawn0845 wrote: »

A relative of mine was diagnosed with vascular dementia almost 3 years ago and has since been in a care home. The fees for the care home have taken our life savings and as a result, we are having to sell her home.

Although she receives fantastic care at the home she is in, I have recently been made aware that it should be the NHS paying the fees and that I can claim back what I have already paid. Does anybody know if this is true? If so, how do I go about claiming it back? Thanks.

Do you mean HER life savings.