Posted in News on Jan 26th, 2010
The wife of a dementia patient whose continuing care funding was revoked has won her battle with South Tyneside PCT to have it reinstated. Hector Atkinson, who suffers from dementia, was assessed as eligible for continuing care after breaking his hip in 2007. But when his condition was reassessed in January 2009, the PCT ruled [...]
Posted in News on Jan 20th, 2010
The Department of Health has written to all PCTs and SHAs to remind them that, within the revised National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care, they should be operating a policy of personalised care planning. An updated version of the Framework was published in July 2009 to take account of the increasing [...]
Posted in News on Jan 14th, 2010
Figures released by the Government in January 2010 show that the number of patients qualifying for NHS continuing care has almost doubled from 2007-2008 and 2009-2010. In 2007-2008, 24,952 patients were receiving continuing care in England compared with 44,924 in 2009-2010 – an increase of almost 20,000. The increase is likely to be [...]
Posted in News on Nov 14th, 2009
The helpline FirstStop Advice has reported a large increase in calls from people enquiring about continuing care funding. Many callers are seeking refunds for care fees that have already been paid or want to find out if they are entitled to continuing care funding. This spate of enquiries is directly linked to the [...]
Posted in News on Oct 15th, 2009
The Government has asked 20 PCTs across England to undertake a three-year trial of personal health budgets for patients with long-term conditions. The scheme will involve GPs helping patients to decide on the best types of treatment and care that they can afford to buy with their own budget. As well as giving [...]
Posted in News on Aug 3rd, 2009
The Northwich Guardian reports that local resident Philip Leather may have to move into a care home because he has qualified for NHS-funded continuing care and it is the cheapest option for funding his care. At present, he is cared for at home by three carers who provide 24 hour care, costing around £1,700 [...]
Posted in News on Jul 23rd, 2009
The Times has discovered that £286 million of funding allocated by the Government to improve end of life care services has not been used for this purpose. 90% of PCTs surveyed by the charity Help the Hospices said that the money has been ‘lost on the NHS balance sheet’ or redirected to other areas. [...]
Posted in News on Jun 30th, 2009
The Public Service sector website has published an article describing how using telehealth can save PCTs significant sums of money on the care of older people and those with long-term health conditions, whilst reducing the number of unnecessary and delayed hospital admissions. Telehealth involves the remote monitoring of patients at home by nurses. [...]
Posted in News on Jun 29th, 2009
Bristol councils, PCTs, the South West SHA and the Alzheimer’s Society have joined forces to dispel the taboos surrounding dementia and to work to improve dementia services in the south west of England. It is estimated that around 6,000 people in Bristol suffer from dementia and this figure is expected to increase by 33% [...]
Posted in News on May 6th, 2009
The King’s Fund for Enhancing the Healing Environment has awarded a £30,000 grant to 10 PCTs to enable nurse-led teams to improve living conditions for dementia sufferers. Niall Dickson of the King’s Fund comments: ‘We know that the physical environment in which we care for people affects the way they feel, and this is [...]
