PHILIP MATHIAS

Rear Admiral ( retired)

MY mother suffered from severe dementia and many other serious medical conditions.

Halfway through the last four years of her life in a nursing home, I stumbled across Continuing Healthcare funding ( CHC), often referred to as the “best kept secret in the NHS”.

After a gruelling two- year battle with Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group, I eventually recovered £ 200,00 for my

90- year- old father, which had been used to pay for my mother’s NHS healthcare.

This is NHS healthcare which should have been free at- the- point of use.

Wiltshire had been operating an aggressive and unlawful CHC avoidance regime and an Independent Review found that the CCG had contravened the regulations in multiple ways.

The Care Quality Commission also reported that Wiltshire’s award rate for CHC funding was well below the national average, with no credible explanation.

I discovered that this disgraceful and unlawful conduct was replicated by many CCGs.

I then decided to launch a campaign to expose what is probably one of the biggest public scandals of modern times.

Evidence from NHS data shows that tens of thousands of old, ill and vulnerable people have been unlawfully denied huge sums of healthcare funding, often resulting in them spending their life savings and selling their homes.

Over the last three years, multiple independent and expert bodies, the media and the public have been highly critical of the failing and unlawful CHC system.

The House of Commons Parliamentary Accounts Committee; National Audit Office; Care Quality Commission; CHC Alliance ( 17 charities); newspapers like the Daily Express and a public petition, have all described the CHC system as dysfunctional, complex, discriminatory, lacking the necessary assurance processes and unlawful.

This is done with almost total impunity, while causing distress and financial devastation.

Preparations for a legal challenge against the government are well underway but a case of this magnitude and complexity is very costly.