NHS Continuing healthcare - claim now!

NHS continuing healthcare funding is a government promise that the NHS will pick up the nursing home bills of older people. Despite this promise, at Birkett Long we are still chasing £1.5 million owed to families, with that figure rising weekly.

NHS continuing healthcare is a package of care arranged and funded by the NHS that is awarded to those who have a primary health need. The funding is not means tested, so whether your relative is a millionaire or penniless, if they need nursing care make sure they are assessed now and get a copy of that report. To see if your family member qualifies, needs such as their mobility, mental capacity, behaviour and nutrition – their primary health needs, as opposed to social needs – will be assessed. This also includes those people who are receiving care for dementia.

The government has ruled that claims can now only be made back to April 2012 and therefore any care fees paid before that time are unlikely to be able to be recovered.  However, given the high level of care fees paid by many people today, even two years of care fees can amount to a sizeable sum.

Unfortunately the NHS is struggling to cope with the paperwork and the government has not put aside enough money for this.

We’ve been told that payments due to estates of people who have already died have been put on the back burner and that they are concerned primarily with focusing on funding care fees for the living.

Reclaiming care fees is a long process and may extend beyond your relative’s lifetime, but that money could still find itself delivered to the beneficiaries of any will, as your relative intended. We can help with this, but prepare for a long wait! There are 60,000 people in the UK that are receiving funding, but that is a tiny amount of those who need it.

It really is a waiting game but we are happy to help. Call me on 01206 217611 or email me at ben.parmenter@birkettlong.co.uk.