Health care funding chaos criticised

In a bid to ease the bureaucratic nightmare faced by so many carers, the Alzheimer's Society has joined forces with Age Concern England, Help the Aged and the Royal College of Nursing and produced a new guide entitled 'When does the NHS pay for care?' It aims to clear up some of the confusion over who is entitled to continuing NHS health care and explain how people can request a review for continuing NHS health care.

The situation remains confused despite calls from the health service ombudsman for the department of health to provide clearer guidance to strategic health authorities on who is entitled to fully funded NHS care.

Mike Pearce's mother has Alzheimer's disease. He has spent more than two years trying to get her case correctly assessed. He says:

'The people reviewing my mother's case all seem to have different opinions on who is entitled to continuing NHS health care. My mother has recently been reassessed as needing the highest band of nursing care in a nursing home because she has very complex health care needs. She is totally immobile, doubly incontinent, suffered a stroke and cannot do anything for herself. But the NHS says that because her condition is stable and predictable she is not entitled to continuing NHS care. I cannot understand how this definition applies to someone who has a disease of the brain.'

The health minister, Stephen Ladyman, is expected to give an update on the continuing NHS health care reviews taking place across the country in the next week.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, says:

'It is completely unreasonable that people trying to cope with serious medical conditions are being forced to put large amounts of time and effort into battling for care. The criteria and guidance for continuing NHS health care should be set nationally and should be clear to anyone who reads them. The responsibility for making the review process and criteria accessible and understandable should not lie with organisations such as ours. The government must act now to stop people being denied access to essential health care, free at the point of need.'

The organisations behind 'When does the NHS pay for care?' have all voiced concerns over:

• Reviews of continuing care cases taking months to complete
• The criteria are extremely difficult for people to understand People are not being invited to independent reviews of their cases
• How someone who meets the criteria for having the highest nursing care needs in a nursing home differs from someone who meets the criteria for fully funded care
• Mental health needs not being taken into account for assessments

You can download 'When does the NHS pay for care?' from this website

Notes for editors:

• Health minister, Stephen Ladyman, announced on 22 June 2004 that out of 11,724 complaints being investigated 770 had been found eligible for NHS compensation whilst a further 5,011 were still under review.
• The Alzheimer's Society is the UK's leading care and research charity for people with dementia and their carers and celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2004.
• The Alzheimer's Society was recently announced the Medical Journalists' Association Medical Charity of the Year for 2004. The Alzheimer's Society is the first organisation to win this award.
• Over 750,000 people in the UK have dementia. More than half have Alzheimer's.
• Dementia affects one in 20 people over the age of 65 and one in five over 80.
• There are 18,500 people in the UK under the age of 65 with dementia.
• For information and advice on Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia call the Alzheimer's Society national helpline on 0845 300 0336.
• Our website address is: http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/

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