Mental health needs

Have your mental health needs been assessed correctly?

Did you know that thousands of elderly people in the UK have had their mental health needs wrongly assessed and have thus been denied the free NHS care that they are entitled to?

Local health authorities all over the country have been wrongly assessing the needs of those with severe mental health conditions, leaving them without the free healthcare and no option but to pay for nursing in a care home at their own expense.

By law, older people with severe mental health conditions such as Alzheimer's disease or dementia should be eligible for free NHS continuing care. However, many sufferers' health needs assessments have been based on the wrong criteria, ignoring their medical conditions.

This results in them having to pay extortionate care home fees when they shouldn't be. Some care homes can cost up to £4,000, so people are potentially wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds. In some case, older people with mental health needs have been forced to sell their homes just to fund their care.

Hundreds of people have taken their local authorities to task over these incorrect assessments, and have been awarded full compensation and free NHS care as a result.