Liverpool Care Pathway – Another 'National Scandal'

The State enters into a social contract with the people by accepting money in the form of compulsory deductions taken from income (salary/wages/profits) at source, along with employer's contributions. This is the National Insurance which funds benefits and healthcare.

Having demanded and accepted payment for a service - the provision of healthcare - the State, the government, the NHS or such body designated by State or government to oversee public healthcare, bound by moral duty (and by the laws pertaining to contract!) has a responsibility of continuing care it cannot deny nor fail to keep.

Money has been taken in payment of a service. The provider, therefore, has an obligation and responsibility to provide that service.

You pays your money and you takes your choice...

Well, your money’s been taken and your choice is made, right?

Wrong!

Here is the Express –

UK NEWS

SELL HOME TO PAY FOR CARE

Growing numbers of the elderly are in need of care
but critics say the UK system needs urgent reform

Friday August 3,2012

By Sarah O'Grady

UP to 100,000 pensioners have been forced to sell their homes to pay for ­medical care that should have been free.

Huge numbers of senior ­citizens in nursing homes had been entitled to have their bills met by the NHS. But because of blunders by ­officials they missed out and were forced to quit properties they had worked a lifetime to buy in order to cover costs.

Last night angry campaigners said it was a “national scandal” that exposed Britain’s failing care system for the elderly. A report by law firm Farley Dwek revealed that tens of thousands of pensioners had to sell properties between 2004 and 2011 after going into nursing homes.

They were supposed to have their care and funding monitored on a regular basis under the NHS ­Continuing Healthcare scheme.

This supplies medical care “free at the point of use” even when patients are not in hospital.

But due to bureaucratic incompetence many pensioners have never been offered a review.

This is a national scandal affecting many thousands of families across the country

Partner at Farley Dwek Andrew Farley

The NHS admits blundering and has set a deadline of September 30, 2012, for families to reclaim cash they are owed between April 1, 2004, and March 31, 2011.

Millions of pounds are at stake and as many as 100,000 people are eligible to reclaim funding. However, only 5,750 have taken up cases so far.

Now lawyers acting for some of the families involved are calling for more to come forward to claim money they are owed.

Andrew Farley, partner at Farley Dwek, said: “This is a national scandal affecting many thousands of families across the country.

“We are dealing with hundreds of cases from people that have wrongly paid fees for their elderly relatives.

“Some have been forced to sell their family homes to pay for care when in fact the NHS should have footed the bill. A series of administration ­blunders in the system means that many people have lost their home or their inheritance needlessly.

“Even if the person is now deceased, families can still reclaim money that is rightly owed to them.

“The fact is, if a person is in a care home primarily for health reasons, then they should be eligible for ­funding.

“When choosing a care home for a relative, you would expect to be given the correct advice about funding. Unfortunately, in too many cases this has not happened. It is no surprise that the NHS is trying to keep the lid on this compensation scheme and the onus is on families to step forward and lodge a claim before September 30, 2012. This is a strict deadline so it is vital that people act now.”

Mr Farley said of almost 40,000 pensioners who sold their properties last year to pay care home costs, many could have had their fees funded by the NHS. Michelle Mitchell, of Age UK, said: “Continuing Healthcare can offer a lifeline for many older people and their families when they are at their lowest and most vulnerable and faced with high care costs after a spell in hospital, for example.

“The NHS needs to do much more to make people aware of Continuing Healthcare, particularly for those ­families who may have been eligible in the past and are running out of time to make a claim.”

The number of people forced to sell their homes to pay for care is set to grow after the Government recently ducked key decisions on reforms.

A delayed White Paper was finally published last month but it failed to fully address the problems.

Ministers refused to set a cap on fees, as recommended by adviser Andrew ­Dilnot in his official review of the UK’s crumbling care system.

In England alone there are about 380,000 people in residential care – one in three of whom pays all their costs themselves – and about 1.1million who receive some care at home.

As more people begin to suffer from dementia and Alzheimer’s, the boundaries between medical needs and social care become blurred.

Many of those facing long periods in care end up paying the bulk of costs themselves. There is no financial help at all for those with just over £23,000 in assets or savings.

Current care costs average £800 a week. To recover fees, relatives are advised to talk to their local Primary Care Trust in the first instance.

This matter now makes headlines in The Express. This family can attest, however, as does the article itself for that matter, that this practice has been in place for years. This practice was in place under the previous Labour government. This practice is policy, full stop.

The State does not honour its commitments made.

The State cannot afford to honour its commitments made.

So… you work all your life, you pay your dues, and the state will sell off the proceeds, your house, your home to pay for your keep in old age.

So… you’ve nothing left to sell off? No worries. The State can’t afford to pay for your keep in this world, so it will use the LCP (Liverpool care Pathway) to give you assisted passage into the next care of the NHS (National-socialist Health service).

The State does not honour its commitments made.

The State cannot afford to honour its commitments made.

Obnoxious ideas are being floated with a view to designing public opinion.

"In England alone there are about 380,000 people in residential care – one in three of whom pays all their costs themselves – and about 1.1million who receive some care at home. 

"As more people begin to suffer from dementia and Alzheimer’s, the boundaries between medical needs and social care become blurred. 

"Many of those facing long periods in care end up paying the bulk of costs themselves. There is no financial help at all for those with just over £23,000 in assets or savings."

As is confirmed here - "continuing care is not necessarily for life." 

The letter required the addressee to sign both a ‘Consent to Place’ form and the nursing home Admission Agreement form. This latter was an undertaking to accept terms and conditions including payment of fees.

Beware what you sign, not to sign without first reading what it says and making any necessary amendments to the document. Your signature is never a ‘formality’; what it says is what it means and a signature is always binding.