Contact our team of experts at Compass Continuing healthcare today to see if your relative is entitled to free nursing home fees. Our office number is 0800 008 7777.
“My relative has nursing needs and therefore they will not have to pay for their nursing home fees”. Unfortunately this is often not the case. The standard position is that if an individual has assets over the funding threshold of £23,250 they will be expected to meet the cost of their care in full. Once their assets fall below £23,250 they will be expected to contribute towards their nursing home fees until their assets fall to £14,000. Even once the lower limit of £14,000 is reached the majority of any income received, for example from a pension, would be taken as a continuing contribution towards ongoing nursing home fees.
Simply having nursing needs is not an automatic entitlement to the cost of care or nursing home fees being met by the state via the NHS. The test for full eligibility for funding is that the primary need for care for the individual must be a health need.
The NHS draw a distinction between a health need and a nursing need, even though the two appear to be inextricably linked. Where an individual has nursing needs and they are housed in a nursing home the NHS will provide a contribution to the nursing home fees of £110.89 a week. This is referred to as funded nursing care and is meant to reflect the additional costs associated with care being provided by a registered nursing in a nursing home. However given that the average cost of nursing home fees in England and Wales often exceeds £1,000 the contribution of £110 a week is somewhat of a drop in the ocean and provides little assistance to the individual who is at risk of losing their life savings and property to meet the cost of their care in their old age.
At Compass Continuing Health Care we encounter regular instances of individuals who ought to be provided with full continuing health care funding to meet the cost of their care, being denied the funding and simply offered the funded nursing care contribution, or no assistance at all.
Due to the high cost to the NHS of providing continuing healthcare funding there is an incentive for the NHS for individuals to be denied funding where they satisfy the criteria to save the nursing home fees costs for the NHS. In this situation it is necessary to instigate the NHS appeal procedure and to dispute the negative award of funding as soon as possible.
At Compass Continuing Health Care we assist individuals from day 1, often before any decision regarding continuing healthcare funding has been made while the patient is still in hospital before they have been discharged to a nursing home. We gather the relevant independent medical records and work with the family to draft representations outlining the individual’s entitlement to continuing healthcare funding to meet their nursing home fees, in an effort to secure funding immediately.
Additionally where a negative decision has been made we are able to assist with the appeals procedure, building a case to present to the appeals hearing that contests the NHS position and ensures that where an individual is entitled to funding they receive it.
If you have a relative paying for care or who is hospital and will shortly be discharged to a care environment contact us today. You can complete our FREE online assessment or you can contact us directly on 0800 008 7777. Don’t delay, contact us today to take the first step to free nursing home fees.
Author: Tim Davies LLB
