An Oswestry man has been made to wait over a year to be reimbursed for his wife’s end of life care.

Trevor Harris, 85, has been chasing Shropshire Council and NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin for the money owed to him for his late wife Lynne’s care.

Mr Harris inadvertently ended up paying for his wife’s end of life care – which is supposed to be free – after not being informed until later by staff at her care home.

“In April 2023 I lost my wife who was very, very ill,” said Trevor. “She had ended up with dementia and then bronchial pneumonia which killed her.

“She was at New Fairholme  care home because she had dementia. We were told that when she was put in palliative care we didn’t have to pay money for her care.

“I had been paying Shropshire Council every month and nobody had ever said anything to me.

“It was the care home that told me about it. Our doctor gave us a letter to say when she had been put into palliative care and I passed this on to Shropshire Council – who had completely ignored me for four months.”

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After his wife Lynne passed away Trevor had his own health troubles which saw him in Hospital only a few weeks later.

“I suffered terrible with my own health, I had sepsis, said Trevor. “I had just lost Lynne before that and it took my time to recover because sepsis is a killer.

“I’m slowly recovering now but it causes a lot of problems.”

After sending multiple letter to the Shropshire Council, including to the Chief Executive, he found out the matter was actually being dealt with by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) - NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.

“This lasted until I managed to get hold of one person there who was very helpful and he was disgusted in the way that I had been treated,” said Trevor.

“Because the Council and the ICB couldn’t agree on what to do and still can’t agree because they owe me some money. They all keep making excuses.

“I can’t get any sense out of anyone. The hospital wrote to me to tell me that it was being considered about returning the money to me.

“I just keeps going on and on and on. Nobody does nothing about it they just to sit and yap.

“It’s absolutely shocking the way they have treated me after what had happened.”

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The Advertizer approached the ICB about what was causing the delay to Mr Harris’ refund.

In response, a spokesperson from NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, said: "We acknowledge the concerns raised regarding Mr Harris's situation and understand his concerns.

“While we cannot comment on individual cases, requests for retrospective assessments are considered in line with national guidance.

“We are working to manage the current backlog of requests and remain committed to resolving requests as efficiently as possible."