The Welsh NHS has paid out more than £2.6mn in interest settling claims for wrongly paid nursing care fees, Welsh Conservatives have learned.
Information obtained by Shadow Health Minister Andrew RT Davies reveals that 800 claims have so far been settled out of the estimated backlog of 2,000 claims for retrospective continuing care.
The claims were lodged by relatives in relation to nursing care fees paid for a relative but which should have been funded by the NHS before April 2003.
Earlier this month it was claimed families face the prospect of a 14-year wait to learn whether the NHS will reimburse them.
Andrew RT Davies AM said:
“It is only right that the NHS reimburses relatives after the scandal of people having to sell their homes or raid their savings to fund their own care or those of elderly loved ones.
“The Health Minister must ensure that these repayments are made as quickly as possible and that every penny owed is returned.
“I am deeply concerned, however, at recent reports that it could take up to 14 years to complete this process.
“The longer ministers allow this process to drag on, the more the NHS has to pay out in interest.
“It is simply not good enough for the Assembly Government to say they are ‘developing’ plans when what relatives want is their money back as swiftly as possible.”
