Mistakes and complaint handling delays led to payment

Summary 499 |

Mr D's application for continuing care funding was turned down and he believed that NHS England, who made the final decision on it, had not dealt with the application properly or reached the correct decision. Mr D asked us to look into what had happened.


What happened

Mr D applied for continuing care funding for his wife, Mrs D. His application was turned down. NHS England upheld the decision to refuse the funding. Mr D complained to us that NHS England did not interpret Mrs D's needs correctly. The local clinical commissioning group (CCG) had been involved in the application.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. NHS England had dealt with Mr D's continuing care application correctly, so we did not uphold this part of the complaint.

However, the CCG had made mistakes earlier in the process. Although the CCG had acknowledged and apologised for these, we felt that it should provide a more tangible remedy. The CCG agreed to this, so we upheld this part of the complaint.

Putting it right

The CCG paid Mr D £200 compensation to recognise the failings and the inconvenience it had caused him.

Health or Parliamentary
Health
Organisations we investigated

Bristol CCG

Clinical Commissioning Board

Location

Bristol

Complainants' concerns ?

Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right

Result

Apology