A LOCAL woman is raising awareness of the difficulties people in Herefordshire face when they apply for funding to care for relatives with long-term illnesses.

Some people with long-term complex health needs can qualify for free social care arranged and funded by the NHS. This is known as NHS continuing healthcare (CHC).

But in recent years, councillors have raised concerns over the drop in numbers of county residents who are eligible for this funding.

Second quarter figures for 2019\20 ranked Herefordshire in 173rd place of 191 clinical commissioning groups in terms of the number of people eligible for CHC funding.

Andrea Davis, 57, is one of those who has so far been unsuccessful in applying for this funding to care for her 86-year-old father Ron Taylor.

Her father has advanced dementia and a progressive aphasia which severely affects his communication.

She said his needs are being met in a lovely care home near Ross-on-Wye. But she has found obstacle after obstacle when trying to get CHC funding for her father.

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“I can only describe the overall system from the outset as a shambles and an unpleasant and distressing experience,” she said.

“There was a huge amount of overlap in tasks, and time wasted in repetition. I had to repeatedly chase at every stage of the process and research and navigate my own way around a complex system, whilst being fed ambiguous and incorrect information.”

A NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire CCG spokesperson said they cannot comment on individual cases.

“However, the CCG follows the UK Government’s national framework for NHS continuing healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care for all Continuing Healthcare applications,” the spokesperson said.