A family that spent six years battling to obtain NHS Continuing Healthcare funding for their vulnerable mother finally won after a completely separate and Independent Review of their case. They received tens of thousands of pounds of wrongly paid care fees as well as a long-overdue apology.
After what they described to the Telegraph newspaper as a “gruelling ordeal”, the family also received a four-figure compensation payment from Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board for the unacceptable mishandling of Hilda Bowler’s case.
The case demonstrates the incredible lengths that local NHS boards will go to to deny these payments to families, and the sheer importance of not giving up, even in the face of repeated refusals.
Mrs Bowler’s family highlighted the poor quality of the ICB’s processes throughout the assessment. There were documents with errors and omissions, including several sections that had been cut and pasted from another assessment. Eventually NHS England carried out an Independent Review which confirmed the ICB’s failings and referred the case back to them. The case dragged on for some time further until eventually the ICB appointed a truly independent panel to reassess it. This panel concluded overwhelmingly that Mrs Bowler did indeed have a primary health need.
“It is an utter disgrace that when she was at her most vulnerable, and in the grip of this terrible disease, the NHS tried to deny her the financial support that we have now proved she was entitled to,” Mrs Bowler’s son-in-law told the Telegraph.
“I was staggered to discover that they were simply lifting passages from reports written about total strangers and including them in Hilda’s report. It was so blatant.”
He added: “The whole process was shambolic. It wears you down and it makes it very hard for families to get closure after someone has died when this is hanging over you.” Mrs Bowler sadly died in 2020 at the age of 92. But the family persevered to reclaim the money Mrs Bowler should never have paid in care fees.
Battles over NHS Continuing Healthcare do indeed wear families down. Often here at Just Caring Legal, we hear from them when they are at their lowest and just about ready to throw in the towel. We know how easy it is to feel gaslighted, frustrated, exhausted. This is part and parcel of the bureaucratic maze that is NHS CHC. It is a system that has evolved to put people off rather than help them get what they are entitled to.
If this is you, then don’t give up. Get in touch with us instead. We will give you a reality check and a thorough assessment of the merits or otherwise of fighting on. You too might eventually get what you have been entitled to all along. And hopefully, it won’t take six years.
Posted by Rosalind Hughes, Founder, Just Caring Legal on 03/02/2025, updated 09/12/2025