Family receives £000s in compensation for wrongly paid care home fees

Posted on March 25, 2014

Pearson Solicitors client receives £000s in wrongly paid care home fees

A family from Royton, Oldham who spent thousands of pounds on care home fees for their father have recently had their money refunded after a legal battle with NHS Oldham.

Pearson Solicitors acted on behalf of the family and challenged an NHS Continuing Healthcare Assessment, asking for a retrospective review of funding provision.

Mr N sadly died in January 2012 aged 87, but after seeing a Pearson Solicitors advert and article on Continuing Care in the Oldham Chronicle last year his daughter Mrs W got in touch with the Queen Street law firm.

Her father was in a care home in Royton, but he had never been assessed for funding and like many other people Mrs W knew nothing of the Continuing Care money available until she spoke to solicitor Mike Talbot, Partner at Pearson Solicitors and Financial Advisers.

“The NHS should pay for care when the primary need to be in a care home is for health reasons and this was exactly the case with Mr N, thankfully when the family challenged the NHS they were able to regain the last few months of care home fees that they had paid out ”, said Mr Talbot.

“Many people sell the family home if they are forced to place their loved ones in a home to get the care they need for conditions such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s or Dementia and they may not realise they are eligible for Continuing Care,” added Mr Talbot, who is currently acting for a number of local families seeking to challenge the NHS.

When an individual is eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare, the NHS meets the whole costs charged for funding a residential or nursing placement, including any accommodation costs. It is wholly funded by the NHS and can be provided either in a care home or your own home.

“In successful cases significant sums of money can be reimbursed to the relative or their family even if they have since died and I would urge them to do what Mrs Y did and pick up the phone and get in touch with us,” added Mr Talbot.

His client, Mrs W said if she had not seen the paper that day she would have known nothing about the funding scheme.

“My father had significant health needs, that was why he was in a home. He was eligible for funding but I knew nothing about it, he was entitled to this money, had worked hard all his life and only received what was due to him,” she said.

“Sadly he has passed away, but I would like to thank Mr Talbot for his sensitivity in handing this case and for helping my family and my father get what he deserved.”

For help and advice on Continuing Care please contact Mike Talbot at Pearson Solicitors & Financial Advisers, 0161 785 3500, www.pearsonlegal.co.uk or michael.talbot@pearsonlegal.co.uk.

Please note that the information and opinions contained in this article are not intended to be comprehensive, nor to provide legal advice. No responsibility for its accuracy or correctness is assumed by Pearson Solicitors and Financial Advisers Ltd or any of its members or employees. Professional legal advice should be obtained before taking, or refraining from taking, any action as a result of this article.

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