You can carry out an NHS Continuing Healthcare appeal if you believe that you have wrongly paid care fees and that you could have been entitled to fully funded care.
What is an NHS Continuing Healthcare appeal?
An NHS Continuing Healthcare appeal is for people who believe they have been wrongly assessed as ineligible for full care funding. At any stage where you have been found to be ineligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare you may appeal the outcome. You can also request an Independent Review Panel to be convened at a regional level, and then at a national level if your initial appeal was unsuccessful. This is the main route of appeal.
What’s the problem with an NHS Continuing Healthcare appeal?
The appeal process should, in theory, make NHS Continuing Healthcare more accessible and give people a greater say over their future. However, the appeals process can take time. Some people are left waiting for years for any outcome – and even then, there is no guarantee that an appeal will be successful.
Too little, too late?
Perhaps the biggest problem with an NHS Continuing Healthcare appeal is that it often results in a ‘too little, too late’ situation. This is because while people have been found ineligible for full care funding, they must pay for the cost of their care. An appeal can take time and this means that families can potentially be paying out thousands of pounds in the interim. It is far better for a case to be made as strong as possible early on, so there is less chance of having to rely upon the appeals process.
How do I speed up the process of an NHS Continuing Healthcare appeal?
Appeals can take time and until there’s a resolution that means people are paying out for care fees, which can add up a significant amount. The more delays to the process the more that people end up paying out, it’s as simple as that. That’s why it’s best to try to have regular communications about your case, but that doesn’t in any way guarantee it will speed the process up but it can help make sure it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
Seeking legal representation can help maximise the chances of your appeal being successful – and in a short-time frame. Just Caring Legal specialises in NHS Continuing Healthcare. In the past, Roz secured a refund of over £50,000 for one client within a week despite the fact that he had been waiting years for an outcome.
If you feel that you or a relative have been wrongly deemed ineligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare then contact Just Caring Legal today.