The above headlines may sound fanciful, but they are based on fact.
Very few people, including it seems our politicians, understand that under the law, the NHS must pay for 100% of our nursing needs.
A practical outcome of this, and the Coughlan Appeal Court judgment in 1999, is that most of those 360,000 + people who sold their homes to pay to move into a Nursing Home, could claim back money under the law. They simply need the appropriate letters written for them, do the right things, and let the law take its course.
There is nothing the government, local or national, can do about this. Even if they wished to, any new legislation cannot be made retrospective. Also, both the government and opposition parties agree that the NHS should provide free health care from cradle to grave. So those who are moving into nursing homes will probably have a claim to make.
How much could they claim back ? Well, so far successful claims have often been in the region of £20,000 to £30,000, but the figures could be much higher than this: A Nursing Home might cost typically £30,000 per year, and so 3 years amounts to £90,000. Heard the recent news about house prices having risen 30% ? If the house was sold at £100,000 that's another £30,000. Not so difficult to see why we are talking about a £10 billion ballpark on money that can be lawfully claimed by those who have the right to do so.
Who does this apply to ? Well probably to a very large proportion of us, as we get older, and if we have medical conditions that require long term nursing care. Alzheimer’s is an obvious example, but their are many other conditions such as lung desease where this would apply.
What can we do about it ? "Talk to a solicitor" may not be very helpful, since right now most solicitors will not know about this, and may respond with something like "sorry, but we don't handle things like this". i.e. their bread and butter is helping you sell your house, not delaying the sale. Maybe in time you will see adverts in your yellow pages, offering "No Win No Fee" legal support for claims against NHS/Social Services in the same way that many do now for accident claims. Hopefully this will happen, but will not suffer the bad press from those who have moved in to exploit the market. It would seem that many of us will happily donate a few percentage of the claim, especially since we may have resigned ourselves to not passing our estate on to our children, and the worry further downstream when the money runs out: Will we need to move into a cheaper nursing home ? Perhaps the ideal arrangement would be legal business operations that can do successful and for them profitable "No Win No Fee" business, with an additional fee going to a suitable charity ?
This press release was supplied by Robin Lovelock, whose mother, Eve Lovelock, moved from an NHS Hospital to a BUPA Nursing Home on 18th November 2002. It was only by pure luck that he heard a BBC radio 4 News headline, then was given a newspaper cutting explaining that 360,000 old people had been cheated into selling their homes to pay for their nursing home. He saw mention of MP Paul Burstow and rapidly found his web site, and made contact with James Sandbach, the full time researcher for Paul. Robin was lucky in the timing, and in have written up his mothers 2 year care history. He was put in contact with Derek Cole who has been able to provide expert legal advice to Robin and several other people in similar situations. However, there is no way that Derek could cope with the deluge of work related to the countless families who might soon know they have a claim to make.
Robin has set up web site www.NHSCare.info with the help of Derek Cole. It provides whatever free practical advice can be supplied to those who realize that this subject applies to them and their family. It may also assist those, such as staff within the NHS, Social Services, local and central government, who need to make the right decisions in a timely manner.
Why is Robin trying to create some publicity ?
First because he thinks it is "the right thing to do" - it seems there are hundreds of thousands of families who could claim back money that is lawfully theirs. They can decide who best to give this money: family, charities or "the local authority". Many others need to know how best to take future decisions related to care.
Secondly because he believes it will help "oil the wheels" within his own local region, if this whole subject is "common knowledge". It will be more difficult for politicians to "sit on the fence", perhaps claiming ignorance of how the law stands on this.
His own mother's case is well documented and uncomplicated, and Robin is happy for details to be made public if there is good reason. However, there are probably countless other good examples, including those that have been won recently out of court, with local authorities anxious to "keep them quiet".