People living in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland whose care in their own home is funded by the NHS because of their complex healthcare needs will be faced with the prospect of accepting a drastic reduction to their care funding if a planned proposal is not opposed and rejected. Details are here.

The local NHS are amending  their 'Settings of Care' policy which will mean anyone they currently support with care in their own home will have their care package reviewed and reduced. The NHS is proposing to drastically cut the amount of money spent on providing Continuing Healthcare (CHC) in Leicestershire and Rutland. Highly vulnerable people living in the community with complex healthcare needs, such as people paralysed by a spinal cord injury (SCI), will be affected by the NHS policy, which includes:

·                 Capping the amount of money they spend on providing care in an individual's home to  what it would cost for them to be looked after in a nursing home

·                 Applying the policy to both people newly eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare and those already living in the community with NHS CHC eligibility. It could mean, for example, newly paralysed individuals never returning home from hospital and spending the rest of their lives in a nursing home

·                 Applying the policy irrespective of whether the NHS commission the care through a care agency or provide the funding as a Personal Health Budget Direct Payment. This could mean vulnerable people already living at home being put in jeopardy by having to reduce their care make carers redundant and rely on family members to take over part of the care.

SIA believes that this is a fundamentally unfair and cruel policy targeting some of the most vulnerable members of society.  It undermines disabled people's fundamental rights to dignity, a family life and to not be incarcerated in an institution against their will.  What's more, we believe that if the NHS in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland are allowed to get away with introducing such a regressive policy other local NHS bodies may see it as an 'easy win' to save money and try to introduce similar policies across the country.

We need to stop this policy from being implemented and this is why we ask for your help. We need everyone concerned about the dignity and safety of disabled people living in Leicestershire and Rutland to contact SIA urgently and join our campaign to stop this regressive and coercive policy from being introduced.

Join our campaign by emailing us at campaigning@spinal.co.uk with your details and we will get back to you immediately.