Mrs Mabel Etherington
Mabel Etherington was diagnosed with dementia and lived in a care home in Saffron Walden in Essex from 2007 until she died in 2010.
Mrs Etherington suffered with severe dementia and recurrent mini strokes. Due to her dementia, she had challenging behaviour, unable to communicate effectively and required all care to be provided to her.
Hugh James requested a retrospective review, in 2012, of Mrs Etherington’s past care. Following numerous appeals through Arden and GEM Commissioning Support Unit and to an NHS England Independent Review Panel, the NHS concluded that Mrs Etherington was eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare and her care fees should be refunded.
Accordingly, her family recovered over the wrongly paid care fees plus interest on this sum.
The Etherington Family, said:
We knew that Mabs needed medical support from the NHS but the system did not seem able to accommodate what we knew should have been her right. After her death we decided to continue to fight to deliver the justice owing to her. Hugh James agreed to provide the professional legal and administrative resources.
After receiving many rebuffs from the NHS over a period of more than a decade Mabs finally had “her day in court” last December 2020. An independent review vindicated our position and granted her the justice she should have received in her lifetime. The care fees which she paid and now recovered from the NHS will fund research into Alzheimer’s disease and other charities that Mabs supported.
