Plea to reinstate man's palliative care costs
- Published
A woman has said it is "cruel and unjust" of the NHS to stop funding for her husband's £1,200 a week palliative care costs.
Mick Edwards, from Highley, Shropshire, is terminally ill with stage 4 bowel cancer.
His wife, Diane, said a review by NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin found he needed social care instead of palliative care, which she disputes.
In a statement, NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin said it could not comment on individual cases, but a care assessment may find, if a person's needs change, "their eligibility for continuing healthcare may also change".
Mrs Edwards learned funding would stop in July in a letter last week, and feels she was excluded from the decision-making process.
Though she described her husband's Bridgnorth care home Oldbury Grange as "excellent", she said his health had deteriorated further since the news.
"It's stressed Mick out - he's cried," she said. "It
Mrs Edwards argued Mick needed both palliative care and social care, and urged the NHS to reconsider.
"He hasn't got long and if I could just have a few months back of funding to help, please give it, I'm pleading from the heart."
She also asked anyone who had lived through anything similar to get in touch, adding: "I need all the help I can."
NHS Shropshire Telford and Wrekin said it appreciated this must be an "incredibly difficult and distressing time" for the couple.
It added a team of health and social care professionals assessed eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding, before reaching a recommendation considered by the trust.
"Following the outcome of a decision, every individual is given the opportunity to appeal," the statement concluded.
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