§ Lord WarnerMy honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Community (Dr Stephen Ladyman) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement today.
59WSI 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 per cent. (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.
60WS
SHA Name Number of cases eligible for recompense Investigations completed Investigations under way 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
SHA Name Number of cases eligible for recompense Investigations completed Investigations under way 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 Lines 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 138 232 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