A CWMBRAN woman has been reimbursed by more than £50,000 on behalf of her late mother after wrongly paying care home fees.

Patricia Jackson’s mother, Pearl Collins, passed away in 2013, and spent time in two care facilities after was she diagnosed with dementia.

Mrs Collins’ family claim that they were not provided with a suitable assessment to see if she was eligible for NHS funding.

NHS continuing health care is a package of care arranged by the NHS which can be received by a patient either in a nursing home, care home, hospital or in their family home.

With the help of her solicitor, Ms Jackson discovered her mother was deemed to have been eligible for the funding and the family was reimbursed the costs for her mother’s time in care.

Now, Ms Jackson is urging families in similar position to register care home claims before the deadline of Monday, October 31.

“We had no idea how problematic this whole situation could become. We were completely in the dark,” said Mrs Collins’ daughter.

"The decision to put my mother into care was taken out of our hands, placing significant strain on the family due to the expensive care fees.

“Being able to recover the fees has been extremely important to our family, and my mother’s money has now been passed on to us as she intended, rather than spent on her care costs,” Ms Jackson added.

Ashleigh Woodward, a specialist in care claims at Watkins & Gunn Solicitors, the firm who helped Ms Jackson’s family, says more needs to be done to make people aware of continuing healthcare.

“This is a common problem, especially in Wales. Most people are not aware of the claims deadline, and don’t know where to start when it comes to establishing eligibility,” she said.

“The deadline to recover care fees that were paid between October 1, 2014 and October, 30 2015 is fast approaching, and we would encourage people to register their claims as soon as possible.”