Residential and nursing care home fee recovery case studies
- Case 1
In what was seen as a landmark case, a dementia sufferer won her case in the High Court to force the NHS to pay her home care fees. The family of Hilda Atkinson aimed to show that her need was for round-the-clock nursing care, which would be provided free rather than the "social care" for which local authorities can charge. Plymouth Teaching Primary Care trust was forced to pay £43,000 which represented past nursing care between 2004 and 2007 and was ordered to pay all future nursing home fees.
- Case 2
A family was able to recover over £165,000 after they were wrongly told they had to pay all the nursing care fees. Marjorie Eyton-Jones suffered from Alzheimer's disease and was admitted to a Merseyside care home but she had to pay for all the care she received.
The nursing fees, which amounted to £1,900 a month, meant that Mrs Eyton-Jones's family was forced to sell her home. In recovering the money her family had to prove that she was entitled to NHS Continuing Healthcare because of her health needs. Mrs Eyton-Jones's family recovered the £165,000 they had paid out in nursing home fees after a six-year battle which involved three health authorities.
- Case 3
In a case earlier this year, a total of £250,000 was awarded to the family of Leslie Trent, another Alzheimer's victim, whose home was sold to pay for his nursing care. The war veteran had been denied funding under the Continuing Care scheme despite being bedridden and in need of constant care.
- Case 4
Rod Johnson died in March 2008, three years after a brain haemorrhage left him partially paralysed. Despite a number of complications in his care, Central and Eastern PCT decided that in the period between suffering the illness and his death, he did not qualify for fully funded care. His brother Stephen eventually won a four-year battle to recover the full nursing care costs of £51,500.
