Stop the NHS slashing vulnerable people’s care packages in and around Leicestershire

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

The local NHS are suggesting that their 'Settings of Care' policy will mean anyone currently supported with care in the community will have their care package reviewed and reduced. The NHS is proposing to drastically cut the amount of money spent on providing Continuing Healthcare to highly vulnerable people living in the community with complex healthcare needs such as spinal cord injured (SCI), including:

·         Capping the amount of money they spend on providing care in an individual's home based on 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-spinal cord injured individuals never returning home and spending the rest of their lives in a nursing home

·         Applying the policy irrespective of whether the NHS directly commission the care through a care agency or provides the funding as a Personal Health Budget Direct Payment. This could mean vulnerable people already living at home having to reduce their care and rely on family members to take over part of the care, with the only exception being for those at the very end of their life

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 a regressive policy that may be introduced 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 of disabled people living in Leicestershire and Rutland to contact SIA urgently and join our campaign to stop this regressive 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.