Family Law
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Some 18 months ago, my father who at that time was showing early signs of dementia was assessed by South Gloucestshire Social Services, however because he had savings at the time in excess of £23,500 and he owned his own home, they decided not to allow any funding.
However now that his savings have gone below £14,000, mainly as a result of his care home fees (£2,450 per month) eating away at his savings, I was wondering if I should get South Gloucs to re-assess him. Just for the record I hold a "Power of Attorney" for my father and I am also his guardian in respect to deprevation of liberties.
I have been led to believe that any person who has been diagnosed with full alzheimers, that they are entitled to full funding of all care home fees, regardless of his financial status! Can you please review.
Thanks John
You can ask for an assessment for continuing health care or if already assessed a reassessment. If he is denied an assessment you can ask the PCT to reconsider its decision and carry out a full assessment. If you include extra information as part of your request, the PCT should take this into account.The PCT should give you a written reply as soon as possible. If you’re still not satisfied, you will need to use the NHS complaints procedure:
http://www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Rightsandpledges/complaints/Pages/AboutNHScomplaints.aspx
If he has had a full assessment for NHS continuing health care, and you’re not happy with the decision or the way the decision was made, the first stage is to use the local dispute resolution procedure. The PCT will tell you how to do this.
If the issue isn’t resolved by local review, or if a local review would cause unreasonable delays, the next step is an independent review. This means that an independent panel will consider the case and decide whether the PCT has acted correctly.
You should be given an opportunity to contribute to the review, and to see all the evidence that is taken into account. You may find it useful to get support from his own medical practitioners that have particular expertise in the health problems of your father. At this stage, you should be offered the support of an advocate if you need one to help you through the process.
If you’re still not satisfied by the outcome of an independent review, you can ask for your case to be looked at by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/
There are also law firms that can assist with a legal claim if you believe he is entitled to fully funded NHS care and the above routes are unsuccessful.