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Care Home Claims |
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| If you are paying for care in a care home or nursing home, you may
be entitled to full funding from the NHS. |
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| Prior to October 2007, every Primary Care Trust had it's own criteria for assessing
health care. Recently, The Health Services Ombudsman has directed the NHS to create a more consistent
framework for assessment across the country. |
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| This means that people who were unfairly assessed,
or not assessed at all, may now reclaim some or all of their care home fees. |
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| The following conditions apply, depending on where you are in the UK . . . |
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In England you can reclaim care home fees from April 2004 onwards. * |
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You can claim back care home fees in Wales from April 2003 onwards. |
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It is not possible to claim back care home costs in Northern Ireland retrospectively. |
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NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding is available in Scotland and it may
be possible to reclaim care home fees. Read More > |
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* There may be some exceptional circumstances where the NHS has indicated
it may be possible to reclaim care home fees from before April 2004 – in theory going back as far as 1996 –
but what may amount to an “exceptional circumstance” has never been clarified. |
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Who is eligible to reclaim care home costs? |
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| The NHS has a duty to provide long term continuing
care and is responsible for fully funding the care home fees for any individual with a debilitating
physical or mental condition including dementia and Alzheimers. |
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| Eligibility is based on ‘health and not ‘social’
issues, dementia and Alzheimers are seen as ‘health’ conditions. |
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| You can make a claim for full NHS funding if you or a
family member is in a nursing home, residential homes or living at home. Claims can also be made on behalf
of deceased relatives. |
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The future cost of care homes |
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| Moving into a care home is a major decision in a
person’s life and most people are expected to pay a contribution towards the costs of their board,
lodging and personal care in a care home following an assessment of needs and via a means test if the
local authority is involved with arranging the placement. |
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| The Dilnot Report published in July 2011 proposes
major changes in the way long term care will be funded in the future with people paying less under the
proposed system than they are currently. For more details about the Dilnot recommendations for reform
see Future Care Funding. |
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| If you feel you may have been wrongly assessed, or not assessed at all and have been paying
too much for Care Home Fees or have not been receiving the right level of care, please contact us now.
A care home expert is on hand to review your case confidentially and offer the appropriate advice on your
rights regarding the NHS continuing care. |
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| Paying too much? Get in touch . . . . |
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