Case history
Mrs Bury was admitted from her home
in Warminster in Wiltshire to Bath Royal Hospital in July 2002
following a fall. After a period in hospital, the family were told
that she could not return home and she was discharged to Broadway
Lodge Care Home in Surrey on the 11th April 2003.
- In August 2005, Hugh James Nursing
Care on behalf of the family first requested a NHS Continuing
Healthcare assessment and a retrospective review from the date that
Mrs Bury entered a care home in April 2003. Mrs Bury was assessed
on the 7th September 2005 and found not to be eligible. She was
reassessed on the 12th July 2006 and again found to be
ineligible.
- Surrey Primary Care Trust held a
retrospective review panel on the 17th July 2006 and decided that
Mrs Bury did not have a primary need for health. This decision was
appealed to the Strategic Health Authority.
- Mrs Bury sadly passed away on the
14 August 2006.
- The appeal was ongoing and a
further Primary Care Trust Panel was held on the 26th August
2008. The panel decided that she did not meet the eligible
criteria. A further Independent Review Panel was held on the
16th December 2008 and it concluded that Mrs Bury was eligible for
the last 13 days of her life because her needs became more complex
due to her sight loss, deafness and frequent urinary tract
infections.
- Following a number of Primary Care
Trust decisions, a complaint was made to the Parliamentary and
Health Service Ombudsman who concluded that Mr Bury had not
received a reasonable review and that the Primary Care Trust should
undertake an urgent review of the case.
- This year, the Primary Care Trust
reconsidered the case and after a 5 year fight agreed that Mrs Bury
had been eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare from April 2004.
The Primary Care Trust has now reimbursed the estate over £100,000
in wrongly paid care fees.