Annex
The Secretary of State for Health: Written Ministerial
Statement on National Health Service continuing care
THE PARLIAMENTARY
UNDER-SECRETARY
OF STATE
FOR HEALTH
(DR LADYMAN):
I regret that the information I provided in
my written statement of 22 June contained an error in line 23
of the table, the entry for South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority.
Where it read 138 cases eligible for recompense, it should have
said 69; and where it read 232 investigations completed, it should
have said 163. The corrected data is in the table.
I am publishing today figures that detail the
progress made on investigations into cases where individuals may
have been inappropriately denied National Health Service care.
Strategic health authorities have been required
to investigate cases where individuals may have been inappropriately
denied fully funded NHS continuing care since 1996. Where investigations
have revealed that care should have been provided the NHS has
been recompensing, or will recompense, individuals for the cost
of that care. This process has formed part of the Department's
response to the Health Service Ombudsman's report into long term
care, which was published in February 2003.
The process began with each SHA reviewing and
aligning the criteria for NHS continuing care within its area
and ensuring that these criteria conformed with the legal position.
The Department requested that investigations,
as far as possible, were completed by 31 March 2004. The number
and complex nature of new cases presenting themselves during the
three months from January to March 2004 posed significant challenges
to meeting that deadline, but the NHS has remained committed to
completing investigations as accurately and thoroughly as possible.
At the end of March the NHS had completed 57% (6,713) of all outstanding
investigations. This number is greater than the number of cases
which the NHS was aware of at the end of December 2003, and demonstrates
the NHS's commitment to completing cases promptly once they are
received. The Department will check that those cases outstanding
at the end of March have been completed as of the end of July.
From then onwards I will expect any cases to be completed within
two months of all the information on the case being received by
the SHA. The situation in each SHA is summarised in the table.
Following the work carried out by SHAs in reviewing,
revising and investigating the provision of fully funded NHS continuing
care, awareness and application by the NHS is improving. The NHS
expects to pay a total of over £180 million when all the
cases received by the end of March 2004 have been investigated
and restitution made for incorrect decisions. There is a timely
appeal process for current cases, so that the need for a retrospective
recompense process will decline.
|
| SHA Name | No of cases eligible for recompense
| Investigations completed
| Investigations underway
|
|
| Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA |
0 | 281
| 370 |
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire SHA | 34
| 102 | 110
|
| Essex SHA | 10
| 146 | 26
|
| North West London SHA | 10
| 181 | 191
|
| North Central London SHA | 8
| 64 | 61
|
| North East London SHA | 0
| 169 | 11
|
| South East London SHA | 60
| 183 | 90
|
| South West London SHA | 62
| 194 | 21
|
| Northumberland, Tyne & Wear SHA | 27
| 126 | 172
|
| County Durham and Tees Valley SHA | 10
| 48 | 178
|
| North & East Yorkshire & North Lincs SHA
| 29 | 266
| 93 |
| West Yorkshire SHA | 25
| 130 | 219
|
| Cumbria and Lancashire SHA | 15
| 154 | 186
|
| Greater Manchester SHA | 5
| 102 | 240
|
| Cheshire & Merseyside SHA | 107
| 774 | 422
|
| Thames Valley SHA | 4
| 181 | 202
|
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight SHA | 30
| 386 | 121
|
| Kent and Medway SHA | 24
| 186 | 44
|
| Surrey and Sussex SHA | 5
| 15 | 860
|
| Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire SHA |
43 | 612
| 349 |
| South West Peninsula SHA | 25
| 433 | 120
|
| Dorset and Somerset SHA | 14
| 448 | 467
|
| South Yorkshire SHA | 69
| 163 | 78
|
| Trent SHA | 0
| 236 | 79
|
| Leics, Northants and Rutland SHA | 29
| 202 | 22
|
| Shropshire and Staffordshire SHA | 38
| 412 | 19
|
| Birmingham and The Black Country SHA | 10
| 213 | 73
|
| West Midlands South SHA | 8
| 237 | 187
|
| Total—England | 770
| 6,713 | 5,011
|
|
| 
