Today's the Day !

So the day of the CHC panel meting finally arrived, I was nervous and didn't sleep much the night before, insomnia is always my weakness when I have anything on my mind. I knew the meeting would be sometime in the morning so I wasn't expecting to hear anything from them until late afternoon or maybe the next day. As it was a Wednesday and I wasn't working I visited Mum as usual late morning so I could help her with her lunch. Just as Mum was finishing her lunch I received the call from the CHC team. Nerves were on edge when I answered the phone, it was nurse who had initially assessed Mum and who I had disagreed with from the outset. She cut straight to it - Mum had been successful - the panel accepted that she was eligible for fully funded care due to her complex medical and physical requirements - I was so pleased I could have cried. I felt that my fight had been vindicated - I was right to have stood up to the CHC team and battled to get Mum's needs assessed properly. No further supporting evidence was needed to assist them making their decision , the information that had finally been gathered on mum's condition was enough. What she told me next was even more startling , the funding was also to back dated six months from the initial assessment date, the evidence highlighted Mum's declining state and it could be traced back a further six months. This was not expected at all , I was elated to have secured full funding for my Mum via CHC but to then find out she was getting this backdated too was just wonderful. I felt so proud of what I had achieved for my Mum , I had secured her the funding to provide suitable care for her and this was a huge victory. My pleasure could have easily turned to anger though when I reflected on the whole process , if I had just accepted the initial assessors findings Mum's case would not have even received a review  and certainly would not have been presented to the funding panel for consideration. This was a difficult thing for me to process , we had been lucky that I had been prepared to challenge the initial assessment and that I had been vocal in my disagreement with them, how many other cases are dismissed at this initial stage ? how many of them really should not be dismissed but actually assessed in much more depth ? what about those people in Mum's condition who have no one to stand and fight for them ? I suspect there is a huge majority of CHC assessments that never make it to a funding panel review.  Some of these cases I accept shouldn't go to the panel as the evidence isn't there to support the funding but how many cases don't make it because the evidence isn't looked for or accurately recorded ? There was never any doubt in my mind that my Mum was eligible for funding it was an obvious given - but should I really have had to fight so hard to achieve this, should I really have had to point the assessor in the right direction about Mum's condition ? - The answer is no ! I think that the initial assessment was skewed in a direction that supports the failure of many cases to get considered by the funding panels and this is wrong. My experience shows this. I had been successful in my challenge but I did feel upset that the process had been so difficult and if I had just accepted that initial assessment nothing would have gone any further and Mum would have been denied the vital finding that she was eligible for. Anyone reading this blog with loved ones in care should make themselves familiar with CHC and what it is, it can be such a vital source of funding in peoples darkest times. If this blog helps one other person to receive funding that they are eligible for the Blog will have served it purpose.