Community care law update

ACCIDENT VICTIMS’ LONG TERM CARE

Care costs money. The greater the care needs, the greater the cost. Where the care needs arise because of another’s negligence, who should pay? Most would say the tortfeasor. However, the complex interaction of a number of legal rules sometimes leads to local social services authorities having to foot the bill. Accordingly, in these cases massive resources are required in order to provide lifetime care for a person who has suffered catastrophic injuries in an accident and local authorities often find themselves shocked to learn that they, rather than the tortfeasor, are expected to find the resources.
Case law to date has focused on accident victims who require residential care. The Court of Appeal’s decision in Crofton v NHS Litigation Authority [2007] EWCA Civ 71, [2007] All ER (D) 106 (Feb) however, concerned victims who require domiciliary care. The decision illustrates that the same transfer of responsibility from tortfeasor to local authority is