HOW ILL MUST YOU BE TO GET HELP?
WIDOW Lily Capell was forced to sell her home and use the £ 211,000 to pay for her care.
Mrs Capell had Alzheimer’s, heart failure, poor mobility, incontinence and osteoporosis, but the NHS West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group refused her bid for continuing healthcare.
Her daughter, Shirley Lesiak, 64, gave up work to care for her mother before she was moved into an £ 800- a- week care home.
Mrs Capell died aged 92 in 2015, but Mrs Lesiak, and her brother John, 70, continued to battle through a five- year application and appeal procedure.
Mrs Lesiak, of Colchester, said: “My mum scored ‘ severe’ on two of the 11 criteria needed to get the extra healthcare and a fighting chance to hang on to the home she and my dad loved.
“She had enough points to automatically qualify but then the social care experts had a behindclosed- doors meeting and changed the criteria. It was awful, underhand and unfair.” She added: “I want to know exactly how ill a person has to be.”