MORE than £1m has been spent sending elderly people to be cared for out of the county since 2015 – because the services they need are not available here.
Health bosses have paid more than £1.2m for the residential care of a small number of pensioners since April 2015, information gathered by the Evening Mail has revealed.
Much of the total bill was incurred in the cost of expensive specialist EMI care – for patients with advanced dementia whose condition also causes behavioural problems.
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However, those in charge at Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group have refused to disclose how many residents the money was used to fund, nor where in the UK they were sent, stating the number is so low it could lead to the identification of individuals.
In a statement, Dr David Rogers, medical director of Cumbria CCG, admitted the cost of the care was expensive.
But he said: "The costs we have provided are for patients requiring very specialist care for complex conditions, and there are very few locations around the country who provide this level of care.
"Such centres are used by patients from across the UK, and as the expertise required is specialist, it is expensive."
During the 2015/16 financial year, some £545,975 of the health budget allocated to Cumbria was spent on EMI – or elderly, mentally infirm – care
The figure rose to £747,201.82 for the first 10 months of 2016.
The care provided is in specialist units for people with advanced dementia who require tailored care, often for periods of less than a year.
A response to the request for the cost of out of county care for elderly people in Cumbria – which has a "super-aging population" – stated: "These figures are for patients requiring very specialist mental health care, for complex conditions.
"There are very few locations around the country who provide this level of care.
"Such specialist centres are used by patients from across the UK."
The use of out of county care has come under fire from families across the area, however, who claim they have been forcibly separated from loved ones who have been sent hundreds of miles away.
In one such case, Walney pensioner Eric Bazeley was sent to an EMI unit at The Priory, in Wakefield, Yorkshire, to access care for his dementia.
His distraught wife of 60 years, Madge Bazeley, 84, was able to visit once a fortnight after Cumbria NHS bosses agreed to lay on transport for the 250-mile round trip.
READ MORE: Heartbroken pensioner faces 250-mile round trip to visit dementia-stricken husband
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