Over £250,000 recovered by service provider from local authority after Healthcare Regulatory team’s guidance

Solicitor Oliver Brown was instructed following a healthcare provider continuing to provide care to a service user after they became the local authority’s responsibility – the cost of which amounted to over £250,000. This happened following the service user’s assets depleting during their care. Local authorities are obliged to provide care for those who are unable to afford their care.

Oliver and HCR Law’s Regulatory Healthcare team were asked to evaluate the merits of any potential claim by the service user’s original healthcare provider against the local authority. As part of this process, Oliver and the team calculated and assessed how much their client was owed, and drafted a robust, strongly worded pre-action protocol letter to the local authority – putting them on notice that a claim would be brought unless the matter was resolved.

Following the letter being sent, and further clarity from Oliver and the team provided, the local authority paid the sum sought by the provider – meaning litigation was not required.

Following the case, Oliver said: “Where local authorities default on contractual agreements, it’s important for care providers to adopt a more litigious stance than they might otherwise do. This is particularly the case when it comes to debts accrued in relation to service users and care provided.”