I am delighted to be able to wish Just Caring Legal a huge happy birthday, taking a moment to recognise two years of successful trading, and what a couple of years they have been!
Friday the 4th March 2016 was my last day at a large Law firm in Newcastle after handing in my notice three months earlier. I had taken a leap of faith to become self-employed. My dream and my passion at that time was to single-handedly set up my own firm specialising in NHS Continuing Healthcare funding applications and the recovery of wrongly paid care fees. I didn’t have one client.
Taking my initial concept and transforming it into a busy, thriving Law Firm has been nothing short of the much-mentioned roller coaster journey. Challenging, stressful, and at times sad, yet undoubtedly the most rewarding and worthwhile of my career.
My clients repeatedly saying “I couldn’t have done it without you” and the emotionally challenging, vulnerable positions my clients and families find themselves within consistently push me on and drive me to grow this firm, as I know there are so many, many more people I can reach and help.
Success stories such as the gentleman that called and I was quickly able to identify the problem within his free initial consultation, give him instruction on his next steps, resulting in £3,000 per month of care being funded for the price of a phone call.
Or the Client whose father sadly had a severe stroke, was left completely immobile, doubly incontinent, unable to communicate and peg fed whilst spending over six months in hospital and despite this was given low and inaccurate scores to assess his eligibility for NHS CHC to pay for his care.
This client placed their trust in me and with robust written representation and clear evidence we were able to reconvene the MDT rather than appeal and have the scores corrected to severe within weeks.
As a result, the client’s father was fully funded and able to be moved from hospital to an appropriate care facility whilst saving £42,000 per year. This client said ‘’ I’m very grateful for the work you did for us Rosalind. I’m sure the result could have been different were it not for your input.’’
Clients regularly say that they are expected to pay for care if they have assets. They don’t realise that they are not expected to pay or have a financial assessment carried out if they or their relatives have ‘primary health needs’ such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, varying forms of dementia, catastrophic injuries and so on. I have helped people all over the country to secure NHS Continuing Healthcare funding and even travelled many miles to represent clients and maximise their chances of success throughout the assessment process. This is why I love what I do and the dream has now become a reality.
So, as I blow out the candles on the JCL birthday cake, I am going to make two wishes, one for each year. I know I shouldn’t share those wishes as they should remain secret, strictly between myself and the extinguished flame, melted wax and chocolate cake, but I’m going to make an exception and throw those wishes to the world.
My first wish is for more clients, and you might laugh and think that is surely the wish of every firm, but my wish is to reach more clients, to reach those who are so desperately in need. My passion is getting people the right decision as quickly as possible whilst navigating a complex and stressful process. I love nothing more than getting the right help to those in need at the beginning of an NHS Continuing Healthcare process, when they get the support they need within 28 days rather than the drawn-out exercise of 12 months or even a 2-3-year appeals process.
Apart from new clients reaching me through my website or by recommendations from existing clients, I would like to make even more connections with other Law Firms, Wealth Management companies, Accountants and Charities giving specialist, tailored guidance on the Continuing Healthcare process and the benefits for potential new clients of ‘investing money to save money’, protecting assets and ensuring ‘financial obligations’ are met by state funding where possible. Getting the right advice at the right time.
For my second wish, I wish to be able to widely share information, to impart my knowledge of Continuing Healthcare funding, so we all know of our possible entitlement when health takes a turn for the worse. I will blog and share as much as I can to inform the many people who still have no knowledge or a misguided understanding of NHS Continuing Healthcare funding.
People are still regularly accepting incorrect decisions, and it is these decisions that are costing potential clients and their families up to around £50,000 a year in care fees. And most important of all, it doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank, if your needs arise primarily out of your health the NHS should find you eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare and pay for your care fees, including accommodation if you are in residential care.
We can do better, we can do more and I can’t think of a better time than now. Let’s raise a glass to another successful year.