Patients face postcode lottery for care funding

PATIENTS are facing a social care postcode lottery with some people being denied access to NHS funding, a watchdog has claimed.

Which? said NHS funding data showed vulnerable people in England with the most expensive medical needs can be up to 25 times more likely to get their costs covered depending on where they live.

South Reading, the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area with the lowest level of people funded, paid care costs for 8.78 patients per 50,000 people in its catchment, while Salford funded 220.38 people.

However, Which? also found that inconsistencies affected people living in the same region. Alex Hayman, Which? managing director of public markets, said: “Whether you get funding for care shouldn’t depend on where you live.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said it would be publishing plans for reform of adult social care this summer.