Paralysed ex-inspector is forced to pay for own 24-hour medical expenses
PARALYSED Peter Ireland is having to pay for the 24-hour care he needs at home – after NHS officials ruled repeatedly the ex-policeman does not qualify for free help.
Unable to use his legs and on his own, 77-year-old Peter instead has to burn through 75 per cent of his pension to fund a live-in carer.
His plight is exposed today in the Daily Express as one of the most shocking examples of a bureauratic injustice that has left tens of thousands of elderly people in anguish and paying huge care bills.
The denial of social care which their taxes had funded has been labelled “the biggest public scandal of modern times” by prominent campaigners. Peter – who was struck down by brain and spinal bleeds in 2017 – hit out at officials on his local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) who rejected his pleas for funds.
He said: “Can you believe it – even though I’m paralysed and can’t move my legs, the assessors from Surrey Heartlands CCG said I could.”
An apparent “postcode lottery” also sees people in some parts of the country far less likely to receive free care funding than elsewhere.
As a bid for a judicial review of the national Continuing Healthcare scandal was lodged in the High Court yesterday, retired detecctive inspector Peter unveiled the full picture of his plight.
Even though he can do very little for himself and needs a helper on hand constantly, Peter has fought in vain for three years for free care.
Reports from his doctors confirm his condition is so severe he meets all the criteria to qualify for paid support, as laid down in law.
The divorced father-of-two said: “The last few years have put an enormous strain on me and my family. If it wasn’t so stressful a situation, it would be laughable. I wish I could move my legs, get up and walk.
“I’m now using all my pension paying a live-in carer from Thailand £1,500 a month to care for me. There is very little left over. I pay on top of that all the extra food and utility bills. My local council
won’t help unless I go into a care home, which would be extortionately expensive every week and they would expect me to sell my home to pay for it.
Mr Ireland, of Lingfield, Surrey, has just £500 a month left after paying for the care that he believes the NHS should be providing free. He added: “I have examined the whole NHS Continuing Healthcare process in great detail and it is not fit for purpose.
“The CCG wants to cut costs and it finds any way it can to reject applicants. I think many are breaking the law. In my case, there has been a complete non-compliance of the regulations...and the dismissal of clinicians’ views on my healthcare needs.
“I even engaged a specialist solicitor to help me through the process, which cost £3,700, and his interpretation of my views and feelings were not even recorded.
“The misery and heartache caused by the wilful misinterpretation of the continuing healthcare policy by people who are not usually medically qualified is awful. There is no excuse for it.”
NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is free social care outside of hospital. If criteria are met, the provision is a legal entitlement not subject to affordability.
But since 2015, up to 50,000 people have been denied help unlawfully. Despite an aging population, CHC eligibility totals have plummeted. In 2016/17, 57,773 people were deemed to qualify but by the second quarter of 2020/21 that had shrunk to 46,760. Many older people have had to sell their homes to pay for “free” NHS care.
Large, unexplained variations in successful applications across the UK have led to charges of a “postcode lottery”of care. Numbers declared eligible for help ranged from as low as 28 per 50,000 of the population, up to 356 during 2015−16.
Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, said CHC “is designed in a way that screens out too many people who have a legitimate case. It is grossly underfunded, leading to local rationing that deprives older people of their rights and forcing them and their families to pay huge care bills that ought to be picked up by the state.”
Lawyer David Steene, of Steene Law, said: “Statistics do not tell the story of the thousands of people who have lost literally everything. We often get calls from individuals who have sold their home and have spent in excess of £250,000.”
Surrey Heartlands would not comment on individual cases. It said its CHC team “conform to the National Frame-work for NHS Continuing Healthcare”. ●●Rear Admiral (Rtd) Philip Mathias, heading the court case, said: “A donation from Daily Express readers towards the costs of this legal action will significantly increase the chances of successfully holding the Government to account.” Details at crowdjustice.com/case/ the-nhs-continuing-healthcarescandal