Hi everybody
Hope someone can help and advise me on this.
My father became ill after two falls and went into hospital. Within weeks of entering hospital, I was pressured to put him in a nursing home by the Discharge Co-Ordinator. I applied for CHC funding on his behalf, and was iniotially refused an assessment. I appealed against this and won him an assessment. Despite his advanced age (88), and number and complexity of health needs (advanced Parkinsons, dementia, severe risk of falls as demonstrated by his history of falls, diabetes), he was ruled ineligible. During the assessment, I was shouted down by members of the mob handed crew who attended, they refused to accept that he had a history of falls, and despite agreeing levels of need in several domains, after the meeting the team downgraded his level of need/severity of condition in several domains from that agreed at the assessment.
I appealed against the assessment and demanded a re-assessment. Owing to the obfuscation and delays by the CCG, it was over 1 year later that a re assessment was done and he was again considered ineligible despite reports from medical practitioners not employed by the CCG suggesting that his needs were 'severe' in several domains.
Once again I complained about this, and the CCG took several weeks, sometimes months, to reply to my correspondence. In the meantime, my father passed away. His death was caused, according to the doctor, by dementia and advanced Parkinson's disease. In all the time he was in the nursing home (16 months), the CCG refused to send members of the Palliative Team in to see him despite him being declared a palliative patient by a local hospital after he was admitted for a week suffering from pneumonia. Just three days before he died, a palliative nurse finally visited him and told me that she thought he should be referred for fast track CHC funding assessment.
After my father's death, I commissioned a CHC expert to produce an appeal submission; this was produced after seeing all my father's medical notes and care records, and declared that he was entitled to CHC funding. The CCG received this at the beginning of August last year and have done nothing. I have lodged a formal complaint with them about both this and about the way my father's application for CHC funding was swept aside despite the severity of his health in several domains which from the date of his admission to a nursing home until the day he died rendered him eligible for CHC funding.
I complained to NHS England, who took up the matter with the CCG, and came back to me with the news that since my father has now been classified as a 'retrospective' application, he has joined a long list of 'posthumous' applications which stretches back as far as 2004 to 2012. They are therefore suggesting that it may be 13 years before this matter is resolved and my father's estate is reimbursed.
Has anyone else successfully dealt with this before? All suggestions and advice welcome and gratefully received.
