Row breaks out over location of continuing care

The NHS in Norfolk and Great Yarmouth and Waverney is proposing to reduce its continuing healthcare costs by removing a patient’s right to receive care at home if a cheaper option is available.  The Trust has launched a consultation process recommending that continuing care is provided in a care home or hospice – the location of which will be chosen by the NHS.  As well as going against the guidelines laid out in the National Framework for Continuing Care, which stipulate that the location of care should not be considered as a factor in awarding funding, the proposal means that many patients will be forced to move to homes and hospices far away from their families.  The Trust has decided that it will not fund any continuing care option that is 20% or more expensive than the cheapest option.  Home care is usually around double the cost of residential care in a nursing home; however the government is currently driving the NHS towards providing more care in the patient’s home wherever possible.  Although new patients that have just qualified for continuing care funding will be mostly affected by the change, existing recipients who are receiving care at home may be forced to move into homes if their conditions worsen.  The Trust is defending its decision to limit the availability of continuing care at home, citing clinical safety as a priority and stating that home care presents a higher risk to the patient.  Deputy Chief Executive David Stonehouse states: ‘If upon review, it is clear that their care should continue in a specialised nursing home then we shall work closely with the patients and their families to ensure their needs and wishes are respected as far as possible.’  Local MP Norman Lamb is not convinced, commenting that: ‘Pushing people into nursing homes against their will is a very dangerous game.’

Tags: Continuing Care, NHS, Norfolk