Retrospective CHC claim

[Davetherave]

Hi folks

Don't know if any of you are aware but for the last 4 years I have been fighting the NHS for a retrospective CHC claim on behalf of my mother and late father who died from MND in May 2013. Well we've come to the end of the long journey and the might of the NHS has won. We exhausted all the NHS process's from the 'CCG Internal Panel', 'The Local Resolution Meeting' and finally the so called 'Independent Review Panel', a panel convened at the NHS's time and convenience, on their own premises and that has to adhere to NHS guidelines, so much for being independent eh?! Obviously this Panel turned down our appeal. Our final option was to see if we could take the case to Judicial Review so I contacted a specialist solicitor to see if they would take the case on a 'No win, No fee' basis as me and my mother don't have the finances to fund the case privately. Unfortunately they were unwilling to do this.

So, as I said before this is the end of road for us now. I think we might have had a good case at Judicial Review but alas we'll never know now. I have to say the conduct of the NHS during this 4 year period has left a lot to be desired and the way they dealt with my elderly mum, before and after my dad passed, was nothing short of disgraceful.

My father was severely disabled with MND towards the end of his life but the NHS deemed he was ineligible for Continuing Health Care as 'his care needs were not complex enough' according to them. He worked all his life and paid tax and National Insurance all his life but this counted for nothing at the end of his life.

Interestingly enough I was reading about Peter Sutcliffe 'The Yorkshire Ripper' the other day and noted that during the 30 odd years of his incarceration, he has received £500,000 in Legal Aid for court cases, challenges, appeals etc. Yet me and my mother who don't have money were not entitled to one shilling in Legal Aid to take this case to court.

It's a funny old world eh??!!

Anyway, good luck to anyone who is currently fighting for CHC or has to fight for it in the future.

Love and best wishes

Dave..

[Terry]

Hi Dave;

Sorry that your family never got justice in this matter. It is funny how the guilty get help and the innocent don't.

All the best from now on, love Terry

[Davetherave]

Cheers Terry

Yeah, it's very disappointing, but we tried our best.

Love, Dave..

[ccinjersey]

Hi Dave

I'm not familiar with your healthcare system, but it certainly sounds like such an injustice to your family. Fours years is a long battle to fight especially when dealing with loss, and grief at the same time. You fought the good fight that's a huge credit to you on behalf of your parents. Very sorry for the outcome.

It's also a shame lawyers don't have a heart...it's the same way in this country too.


CCxox

[Davetherave]

Thanks CC

Love, Dave.. x x

[Barry52]

Hi Dave,

You might want to point a legal representative to the Pamela Coughlan v NHS case. I'm not sure if this will work retrospectively but it may be worth a try.

http://caretobedifferent.co.uk

Google Coughlan v NHS

Best wishes,
Barry

[Davetherave]

Hi Barry

Yep, I did discuss the 'Coughlan' and the 'Grogan' case's with the solicitor that was looking at our case, but disappointingly they still wouldn't take our case on as a 'No win, No fee' basis'. Thank you anyway.

Dave..

[Banned]

Hi Dave,

A few thoughts of mine:

What stage are you at regarding this case?

Do you have £5000 of attributable expenses for the care of your dad?

I assume that you have the Trust's final decision. Is it truthful or missing crucial evidence?


Regards

Graham

[Davetherave]

Hi Graham

We're at the end of the road regarding this case I'm afraid. The case I was chasing was on behalf of my late father who died from MND in May 2013. I believed he was entitled to Continuing Health Care as his care needs were quite complex in my and my Mother's opinion, the NHS thought otherwise. We were told we had to go through all the NHS's process's - 'The CCG Internal Panel', 'The Local Resolution Meeting' and finally 'The Independent Review Panel'. All these process's took 4 long years, prolonged purposely in my opinion by the NHS with needless petty correspondence that was designed to dishearten you, frustrate you and hope that you give up. In the CCG Internal Review Panel many lies were told by the NHS and the domains in the 'Decision Support Tool' were underscored, and his condition was underplayed. The same happened in the Independent Review Panel. It felt like the NHS were dealing with this as if it were a multi-million pound lawsuit they fought it so hard. I was hoping that we could take the case to Judicial Review but unfortunately the specialist solicitor that deals with these kind of cases would not take the case on a 'No win, No fee' basis even though we thought we had a good case and we told them about the NHS's conduct. As we don't have money to fund the case privately I'm afraid this was the end of the road for us. As I said earlier in this thread, the NHS behaved disgracefully with regard to this case and did everything in their power and used every trick in the book to get out of paying us a retrospective CHC payment.

Unfortunately we've had to take this one on the chin Graham.

Kind regards

Dave..

[Banned]

Hi Dave,

I am thinking that you have an option to take a legal path through the Civil Courts. It would be a 'small claims' claim for expenses up to £5000. It would recompense you for costs such as continence care; time of work for providing essential care; and any other costs associated with your father's care.

I had the exact same experience going through the Ombudsman. We are being stitched up as a group of vulnerable individuals. We must fight back realising that our charity refuses to assist and side with the NHS against us.


Regards

Graham

[Davetherave]

Hi Graham

Didn't realise we could apply for small claims up to £5k through a Civil court, it's definitely something I'll look into. Thanks for the info.

And yeah, we were stitched up big time by the NHS. I think you mentioned in a previous post that 1000's of people were having their life savings and properties taken from them unlawfully by the NHS to pay for care, it really is unacceptable.

Kind regards

Dave..

[Banned]

Hi Dave,

The Judge Rinder program is very instructive. The judgment is made on the balance of probabilities and you will get the chance through the Bench to cross examine the CCG. You will have to provide evidence of losses. Judge Rinder himself seems like a fair and intelligent judge. You may want to apply to the show.

Regards

Graham