GP fights for MS husband's care

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A GP says she may have to give up work to care for her terminally-ill husband because his social services care package could be withdrawn.

Siaron West's husband Peter Rees, 35, has multiple sclerosis and receives council social care funding.

Cardiff Council wants to assess him for NHS care, which Dr West says would not meet his needs. She would have to care for him full-time or put him in a home.

The council said it was working within Welsh Assembly Government guidelines.

Mr Rees' care is currently paid for by a mixture of the council's direct payments scheme and the Independent Living Fund, which matches it, Ms West told BBC Radio Wales' Eye on Wales programme.

This enables Dr West to employ personal carers and assistants as and when needed, enabling her to work part-time and care for their seven-year-old daughter, Catrin.

However, the council wants Mr Rees, who has had the condition for 12 years, to be assessed for continuing healthcare, an NHS-funded care package which would give him up to five visits from district nurses per day, but would mean losing their current funding.

Dr West said: "I fought quite hard at the beginning to get the right sort of care for Pete and I can honestly say that over the last six years I feel as though we've managed to have as normal a family life as possible.

"I've managed to work part-time, Catrin's managed to have some sort of childhood, and I feel as though we've functioned well over the last six years.

"I'm a GP, I can provide a lot of the nursing and medical care. What I need mainly are sitters, people to sit with Pete while Catrin and I can go out and do things.

"The best the NHS can provide would be five visits from a district nurse per day. That in no way meets any of our needs and means that I could not continue to work.

Complaint

"We've got a package here which is working well for us; it isn't broke, it doesn't need fixing."

Prof Luke Clements, a human rights and social care expert from Cardiff Law School, said arguments between health services and social services over continuing care responsibility were common.

People are used as cannon fodder in a strategic dispute between two authorities, and it's unpardonable Professor Luke Clements

"There is a point where somebody's illness is such that they move from being the responsibility of the local authority, which is a means-tested, social services system, into the responsibility of the free at point-of-need NHS system," he said.

"People on that boundary are caught, because they are in transition, effectively they're used as cannon fodder in a strategic dispute between two authorities, and it's unpardonable."

The council said it could not comment on the case as there was an ongoing complaint lodged by Ms West, but said it would be unlawful for them to carry on funding someone assessed as needing continuing healthcare.

The Welsh Assembly Government is about to issue new guidance on continuing healthcare, which will call for better joint working between local health boards and local authorities, and has pledged £15m over the next three years to help bring changes to how local services cope with such situations.

Eye on Wales is on BBC Radio Wales at 1830 GMT on Monday.