Nursing Home Care Fees

A major concern for many elderly clients is who will pay for their care in the event that they need to go into a nursing home. When you consider that nursing home fees average £600 per week, it is easy to see how the cost can very quickly escalate into thousands of pounds. Many people who have been admitted to a nursing home due to physical or mental health problems could be entitled to have their care fees paid by the NHS. The law provides that if your overall care needs show that your primary need is a health one you should qualify for fully funded NHS care.

Every person who needs long-term care because they are ill should be individually assessed by the NHS to establish if the primary need of that person is one of health care. The difficulty is that the assessment criteria are not always applied lawfully, sometimes through no fault of the medical practitioners involved, but rather owing to the complexity of the criteria themselves.

It should be remembered that not all people admitted into a nursing home have a primary health care need. Their main need may be one of 'social care', such as assistance with washing and dressing, eating and mobility. In this case that person will be required to fund their care in full if the total value of their savings and any property exceeds £23,500. Only once the value of their estate reduces below this figure will they qualify for state funded care. A person who pays for their care may still have health needs. This could include such things as catheterisation, wound care, or monitoring of diabetes. These are incidental to social care and as such do warrant that person's care fees being paid in full by the NHS. However, the cost of such incidental healthcare is paid by the NHS.

Our specialist Solicitors are able to advise if you have been correctly assessed and in the event of an incorrect assessment we can prepare a claim for full reimbursement of incorrectly paid fees.

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