Here at Just Caring Legal, we have been following closely the campaign by former Rear Admiral Phillip Mathias to raise awareness of the problems surrounding NHS Continuing Healthcare. His open letter to Government Ministers was eloquent and moving in its description of his own two-year battle for the NHS care funding his mother was entitled to.
He called NHS CHC “possibly one of the biggest financial scandals in the history of the NHS”. Now, in a new open letter published recently to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, he has gone even further.
“I believe there are sufficient grounds and evidence to investigate [NHS England Chief Executive] Simon Stevens for the charge of Misconduct in Public Office,” he wrote. During Stevens’ tenure, he continued, “many thousands of old, ill and vulnerable people have been denied the healthcare funding to which they were legally entitled.”
“The award of CHC funding is a matter of law, not policy. If the eligibility criteria are met, it is a legal entitlement, which is not discretionary or subject to affordability. Mr Stevens failed to act, Mr Matthias states, even though he was aware that “there were major and widespread failings in the CHC process.”
The letter points out that CHC funding has become even more unjust and unlawful over the period of Mr Stevens’ leadership of the NHS. “In terms of reasonable excuse or justification, it is difficult to imagine what this might be, other than the need to reduce CHC funding due to financial constraints – which would be illegal.”
While Just Caring Legal cannot comment on the legal merits of Mr Matthias’ accusations of misconduct, we agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments in his letter. Every day, we hear from our clients that elderly and vulnerable people are failing to receive the funding they need and deserve to help them live. NHS CHC should be available for all those with a primary health need, no matter how great their assets and savings. It should cover all their care costs whether at home or in nursing care. And people should not, in the words of applicants, require a PhD to prove they are eligible.
Yet the stories of Mr Matthias and many thousands of others show that the whole NHS CHC system is not working as it should.
Are you one of the thousands who has been denied NHS CHC?
If so, we want to hear from you. Because we may well be able to help.
Just Caring Legal is a solicitors’ firm specialising in NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding. Challenging decisions of ineligibility for NHS. CHC is what we do every day of the week.
Call us today on 0191 556 1078 or email us at [email protected] to arrange an initial discussion of your case. Our expertise will maximise your chances of securing the money you need to meet your vulnerable relative’s care needs.