The Welsh Liberal Democrats yesterday called on the Welsh Government to get to grips with continuing care payments in a more efficient way in order to get through the backlog of nearly 3000 retrospective claims.
Our motion insisted that the Labour-Plaid government process cases without panels when possible and deal with claims in order of how close they are to completion rather than in chronological order.
At present the Welsh Assembly Government is processing 140 cases a year out of the 2,485 claims. At this rate it will take 13 years to deal with all the cases. The Health Minister has given only 3 years to review all the cases, meanwhile interest is accruing every day.
This is a disastrous situation for patients and their families who have been waiting years to receive payments for something they should never have paid for in the first place. Now we have been told that it could take thirteen years or more.
It is clear that something has to change. The Labour-Plaid government has to adapt to the reality of these claims that will run into the tens of millions of pounds.
It is completely unacceptable for the Labour-Plaid government to bury their heads in the sand and just hope that it will go away. They have to act now, and address the incredibly inefficient way that these cases have been handled so far.
It is essential that they install new systems to make the whole process more efficient. Only though swift, resourceful action can they start clearing this back log and families can receive the payments which in many cases have left them financially crippled.
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