Reclaim Care Home Costs for Free- New MSE guide

noelphobic

realshannon wrote: »

in answer to a previous post, the percentage I am sure is 25% and I think it rises to 28% if it needs to go to appeal stage. to me, that is a bargain, for someone to take that strain and stress away from us is great. they clearly have a standard template letter ready to go off to each PCT and that will basically state to them that we intend to further this so, as I understand it, that is all that needs to be done at the mo, lodge a letter to state that you will be claiming. good luck everyone and I will post back as and when I hear anything interesting or useful

Yes, a standard letter is all that is needed. That and getting the records was the easy bit for us. Unfortunately we did that 2 years ago and nothing further has happened, which is part of the reason why I am considering getting a solicitor.

monkeyspanner

noelphobic wrote: »

If someone is granted fully funded NHS continuing care then their pension or any other benefits would not be taken into account so this should be refunded if you win your case.

Yes any contribution from pension should be refunded. However, attendance allowance (which is payable to self funders) paid from 28days after CHC granted would have to be refunded. So the affect would be largely neutral.

alfreton

im new to this forum but would like to ask members if any of them have avtually got to the tribunal stage and what sort of finincial documentation they require. obviously invoices will be needed but we havent kept any bank statements and wondered if these are necessary, any mor information would be appreciated

alfreton

noelphobic wrote: »

I couldn't agree with you more. My mum's illness cost her around 100k, less than your nan, but still an awful lot of money. My parents didn't have a high income and lived very frugally - too frugally in my opinion.

Is there a cheaper home that your nan could move to? I'm not asking because I think you should do that, obviously, but if there is no cheaper home then you can appeal against paying top up fees on the basis that there is nowhere your nan could go without paying top up fees.

see your mp. they tried to move my mum to a lower paid home, which wold have been detrimental to her health, mp sorted it out within 24 hrs. she stayed till the end.

alfreton

arhodes wrote: »

my mother entered a privately paid for care home in 2002 and died there in 2010. She suffered from Dementia from the start which gradually got worse and she paid for care out her own pocket for the whole time. One month before she died she went into hospital and was formally assessed as qualifying for free care due to her condition.
I am wondering if I can make a claim as she had been in that qualifying condition for some time (maybe a year or more) prior to being assessed but she wasn't formally assessed as I didn't know you could be.
I had POA but this ceased on her death. Will I be able to claim any money back for her estate?
Any help appreciated.

definately approach our pct and ask for a full assessment before 30th sept. address it to check with martins guidelines but think its to the the continuing care officer, send it registered post and keep copies

Doc_N

noelphobic wrote: »

Many thanks for this extremely useful information. Regarding the solicitors I have filled in an online form for Hugh James and will see what they say when they get in touch. I will also look at other solicitors.

Have you heard from Hugh James yet?

I have to say that my dealings with them so far have been absolutely awful - they've managed to lose the information they were given, and all they can do is come up with excuse after excuse about being inundated with work.

I'd have expected a large firm of solicitors to be geared up to coping with this (it's hardly a surprise situation, and they've had plenty of time to plan for it) but in the light of the problems I've had with them so far, I'm afraid I no longer have any confidence in their ability to deal with matters promptly.

I'll be looking elsewhere - any suggestions from satisfied clients, please?

caper7

Hi all,

I have come to this very late (today) and am panicking a little, here is a brief description of my father's situation:

My father was a London borough of Haringey resident when he initially began to deteriorate in May 2006 and was given a place in a flat in Haringey supposedly for a month in order to give me some respite.
However he deteriorated very badly upon moving and ended up being admitted to hospital eight times in six months due to falls.
Haringey social workers and I decided he required round the clock care and I found him a private residential care home.
He spent approximately a year and a half at this home from January 2007 to June 2008, till it closed down.
He was then moved to another private residential care home for approximately six months.
My father was in the end admitted to hospital for a five month period, he was assessed there for continuing care and he was found eligible so was moved this time to a nursing home, where he died three weeks later.
This was the first time I heard of continuing care and the first time I was aware of him being assessed for it.

Upshot is that the the first two care homes were paid for in full by my father and these are the fees I would like to try and claim back.

My question is, and apologies if this has already been covered, is sending an email to the PCT saying I want to make a claim sufficient before the 30 September deadline? Or does the long application form on the NHS website also have to be in by the 30th?

Also, the two care homes were in two different PCT's and the story started in a third PCT, do I email all 3?

Any help appreciated.

noelphobic

Doc_N wrote: »

Have you heard from Hugh James yet?

I have to say that my dealings with them so far have been absolutely awful - they've managed to lose the information they were given, and all they can do is come up with excuse after excuse about being inundated with work.

I'd have expected a large firm of solicitors to be geared up to coping with this (it's hardly a surprise situation, and they've had plenty of time to plan for it) but in the light of the problems I've had with them so far, I'm afraid I no longer have any confidence in their ability to deal with matters promptly.

I'll be looking elsewhere - any suggestions from satisfied clients, please?

No, I haven't heard from them. I filled in the online form on Thursday so it's nearly a week now. I realise that they are probably busy because of the September deadline but they have been dealing with cases like this for quite some time. Their website says that they will be in touch within 24 hours and they shouldn't promise that if they can't deliver.

I would also be interested in hearing about other solicitors. We started out appeal nearly 2 years ago and I wish I had found a a solicitor then as it might have been sorted by now.

noelphobic

[QUOTE=caper7;56115853

My question is, and apologies if this has already been covered, is sending an email to the PCT saying I want to make a claim sufficient before the 30 September deadline? Or does the long application form on the NHS website also have to be in by the 30th?

Also, the two care homes were in two different PCT's and the story started in a third PCT, do I email all 3?

Any help appreciated.[/QUOTE]

We started our claim nearly 2 years ago. I phoned the PCT and got the correct address then just sent a short letter advising that we wished to claim. I wasn't aware that there was an application form on the NHS website. Is this something new?

I would be inclined to send a letter by recorded delivery and also email if you have an email address. If 3 PCTs are involved then I would contact all 3.

Doc_N

caper7 wrote: »

My question is, and apologies if this has already been covered, is sending an email to the PCT saying I want to make a claim sufficient before the 30 September deadline? Or does the long application form on the NHS website also have to be in by the 30th?

Also, the two care homes were in two different PCT's and the story started in a third PCT, do I email all 3?

Any help appreciated.

There are others here who can comment far better than I can on the likelihood of your claim succeeding, but on the points above I can certainly confirm that it's sufficient simply to notify the PCT that you wish to register a claim. The application form can be completed after the deadline.

Almost certainly not strictly necessary to notify all 3 PCTs of a claim, but I'd do it just to be on the safe side. I'd also try to get acknowledments that the notifications of claim have been received.