Waiting game for family hit by double tragedy

They spent their final months in care homes not far from the village of Rawmarsh, near Rotherham, where they had always lived.

Despite their increasingly severe health needs, they were forced to sell their cherished family home to pay care fees which quickly mounted as their condition worsened.

Mr Needham, who had made his way from working on furnaces for British Steel to become a manager, died aged 81 in July 2009, followed by his wife in October 2011, aged 78.

Their family believe they were wrongly forced to pay an estimated £66,000 for care the couple received over three years from 2008.

Yet despite registering details with the NHS more than 18 months ago, like thousands of others in the region, they are little closer to getting their money back.

The Needhams’ only daughter, Jacqueline Atkin, criticised delays in dealing with the refund by a specially-created NHS “close down project”.

She said NHS staff had carried out repeated assessments of her parents who were in care for around 18 months each but officials had ruled their needs were not primarily health-related, forcing them to fund their care themselves, leading to the sale of their home.

“To add insult to injury, my father, who received a substantial company pension, had to use that as payment,” she said.

“He was effectively penalised for working hard.

“If we hadn’t seen an article about a person who managed to claim back her mother’s care fees we wouldn’t have known about the refunds they were entitled to.

“I’m frustrated that everything seems to take so long – establishing the close down project has just made it all 10 times worse. It’s like they’re hoping we get fed-up.”

The close down project covering South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw is dealing with around 1,500 claims which NHS chiefs estimate could cost as much as £35m.

Documents show staff expect to take another two years to deal with cases.

Officials check claims to ensure they incorporate key information including case notes and meet a checklist of set criteria. Claims are then screened in or out. Those which go forward for a full review will be heard by an expert panel.

A standard letter to solicitors dealing with cases reads: “We have two years to complete the current claims, this I trust gives you an idea of how complex and lengthy the process is.

“I would also like to inform you that the nursing/residential homes are feeling overwhelmed with the number of requests they have received from yourselves and from us, this has led to long delays in receiving the notes and this is why some cases have not progressed as quickly as you or ourselves would have liked.”

It concludes: “I hope this clarifies our position and would ask please do not contact us again for an update we are inundated with these enquiries and it detracts staff away from focusing on the reviews, so as above you will be informed as the claim progresses each stage as per the process we follow and we will not be sending letters to inform you of no progress.

“If there is anything to update you about please be reassured you will be informed.”

Hannah McLuckie, a solicitor with Manchester-based law firm Farley Dwek representing Mrs Atkin, said some claims assessed once by NHS officials were now being assessed for a second time.

“The organisation set up to speed things up is making it all the more difficult,” she said. “They’re saying ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you’ but it’s not an appropriate response, especially when it was the NHS which made mistakes in assessments in the first place.”