Continuing healthcare scheme wins back thousands for care home clients

A unique scheme which addresses the cost of continuing healthcare in the UK has successfully won over £60k for its clients since the beginning of 2017.

The NHS Continuing Healthcare pro bono scheme which is based within the School of Law and Politics addresses a nationwide problem which affects vulnerable sections of the community such as those in nursing homes or sufferers of Alzheimer's disease. In these cases, it is argued that the NHS is responsible for an individual’s care and should fully fund it, but in reality this does not happen, which leaves individuals responsible for their own care fees.

Second, third year and postgraduate students work on ‘real’ cases helping families to recover care home fees that arguably should have been paid by the NHS. Students undertake this work on an extra-curricular basis, in addition to their academic studies and are supervised and assisted by solicitors and paralegals from Hugh James Nursing Care, one of the leading national experts in the recovery of wrongly paid care home fees.

Since January 2017, the pro bono scheme has received a total of £69,478.32 on behalf of six clients, representing care home fees that have been wrongly paid. The largest single amount recovered for one client during this period has been £31,414.03 which brings the total amount recovered by the scheme over the last ten years to in excess of £150,000.

The School is the only law school in the UK to run a specialist pro bono scheme in this area.

Hannah Marchant, Law Lecturer and coordinator of the pro bono scheme, said: “The NHS Continuing Healthcare pro bono scheme provides students with a fantastic opportunity to work on real client files under the supervision of experts from Hugh James Nursing Care. The money recovered is testament to the hard work of the students involved with the scheme and their supervisors. We delighted at the success we have achieved for our clients.”

Lisa Morgan, Partner at Hugh James Nursing Care, said: ‘We are proud of our long standing relationship with the School of Law and Politics as the Pro Bono scheme provides tomorrow’s lawyers with practical skills to use in their future careers. This is a fantastic achievement by the scheme, which offers support to the wider community by providing legal advice to those who wouldn’t normally be able to access such services.”