Deal with care needs

THERE’S no doubt the NHS ‘funding tool’ is a farce (Letters).

My 71-year-old husband has been a double amputee for 11 years and suffered a brain bleed after a fall in hospital. he’s a type 1 diabetic with erratic control, has early onset dementia, an enlarged prostate, claw hand, central retinal vein occlusion ( so his eyesight is at risk), osteoporosis, low sodium and has had several falls in the past three years.

Because of his dementia, he’s now unable to use his prosthetic legs as he has no ability or motivation to do so. As a result of all his problems, he’s spent a week or more in hospital every year for the past 11 years.

From 2004 until 2014, I looked after him at home with no outside help. My own health has suffered greatly over the past few years, and in 2013 I broke my back and spent time in hospital, so we had to resort to carers coming in to look after my husband.

After another fall, with my husband ending up in hospital again, and with a further deterioration in my own health, it became clear I could no longer look after him at home.

We applied for NHS continuing health care, but were turned down because the ‘support tool’ (a lengthy box-ticking exercise) produced a total indicating that he has only ‘moderate’ needs in certain sections. how disabled do you have to be before you are classed as high risk?

We’re still waiting for news of some form of funding, and my husband has been in hospital for nearly three months. the small amount of savings we have will probably be taken even though it’s for our funerals.

We haven’t asked for any help over the years, apart from an electric wheelchair for which he was rejected as he ‘didn’t meet the criteria’.

It’s time politicians took a good, honest and long look at the NHS, care in the community and the way elderly people are treated, and stop burying their heads in the sand.

S. ROWE, Erith, Kent.