Plea to reinstate man's palliative care costs

Diane Edwards from Highley, Shropshire says she feels like she is "in hell"

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’s really affected him badly."

“What they’ve done is cruel and unjust. He’s got grade 4 cancer, he’s terminally ill, I don’t think he can be any more ill than that."

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.