NHS makes £37,000 payout following care failings

A woman has received a £37,000 repayment after the NHS failed to adequately assess or fund her late mother's care.

The 61-year-old, from Beverley, sought help from East Riding of Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in 2018.

Despite being told she would have financial support, she was reimbursed only £2,418.81 after her mother's death, and she made a complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), which was upheld.

The Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), which has taken over from the CCG, said it was "truly sorry" for the impact its actions had on the family, and said it acknowledged "the failings" highlighted in the investigation.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she suffered from not only substantial financial loss but also acute anxiety.

"We were concerned that we were going to run out of money. We knew the care she needed and how much it would cost," she said.

The woman said she was working full-time while trying to care for her mother, and that her memories from that time "will haunt me".

"[My mother] should have had proper carers and I was filling gaps because we couldn’t afford to get carers," she added.

She said the struggle to fund the care made her mother "very anxious and very fragile", and she described what they went though as a "very difficult time".

The PHSO’s investigation found avoidable delays in establishing a personal health budget once funding was agreed in May 2018. The ombudsman also found that an assessment could have been completed earlier for night care.

Other failings included:

• communication not meeting guidance
• the mother’s health needs not being appropriately assessed
• a clinical review not being completed until September
• reimbursement guidance not being followed and case circumstances not being considered.

The ombudsman recommended the ICB pay £26,382.73 plus interest to the woman for the costs she incurred and unreimbursed care, acknowledge its failings, and produce an action plan to ensure the same mistakes were not repeated.

The ICB said it would now "aim to carry out all assessments in a fair and timely manner, so people get the help they need, when they need it".

It added that as well as repaying the complainant, it had "improved our processes to prevent such incidents occurring in the future".

Ombudsman Rebecca Hilsenrath said the trauma of losing a parent should not be "needlessly exacerbated" by having to shoulder the "immense emotional and financial burden of providing care due to a lack of proper assessment".

She added: "These women should never have had to pay for this care and should never have had to suffer the consequent anxiety about running out of money.”

The complainant said: “I hate the thought of another person going through the stress and financial worry we suffered.

"I hope me complaining helps to change things for the better so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”