RAF hero with cancer and MRSA denied free nursing home place

He has been diagnosed with bladder and colon cancer and is currently recovering in hospital from a bout of pneumonia and an MRSA infection.

Yet despite this list of ailments, the former RAF navigator has been told he is not sick enough for the NHS to pay for a nursing home place.

It means Mr Friar and his wife Norma face a bill of £600 a week for the care he needs - a sum the elderly couple cannot afford.

Because they have carefully saved money through the years, they qualify for only a tiny amount of NHS help towards the cost.

Until now, 78-year-old Mrs Friar has battled to care for her husband, but she has now become weakened by osteoporosis and cannot carry on.

Mr Friar cannot eat unaided, requires a catheter and continence pads, and has trouble sleeping because he is in constant discomfort.

Yet his local NHS trust classes his disabilities only as "moderate", leaving him ineligible for state-funded nursing home care.

"How bad has he got to be?" Mrs Friar asked yesterday. "We have never asked for anything in our lives. I'm angry - really angry.

"The NHS will pay £40 a week towards his care. It's an awful lot left for us to pay.

"This is Blair's way of helping the aged, is it? It makes me sick.

"My husband is a very proud man. We have never asked for anything and worked hard all our lives. Now, at the time we need help the most, we are being slapped in the face."

Mr Friar, a former salesman, has been in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital for treatment after suffering a bout of pneumonia at Easter.

Today, he will be moved to a nursing home in Gloucester which will charge £600 a week.

The couple - who have a son of 51 - have been married for almost 60 years and Mrs Friar has provided round-the-clock care since her husband was first diagnosed with cancer 15 years ago.

Mr Friar, from Highnam, Gloucestershire, is now also suffering from mild dementia and unable to form many sentences.

During some of his family's hospital visits he simply repeated the word "home" as he lay in his bed.

Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust, however, says he does not qualify for "continuing nursing care" as his medical needs must be "complex, or intense, or unpredictable".

His eligibility for funding is classed as "moderate" - the seond-lowest band on a scale of four going from low through moderate and substantial to critical.

Financial rules mean that the NHS will contribute just £40 a week towards the nursing home bill until Mr Friar's savings drop below £21,500.

Then the state will provide £80 a week until his savings reduce to £13,000, when its contribution rises again.

Mrs Friar said: "We had so many dreams together and I struggle to think what life is going to be like being apart from him after 60 years.

"All I ask is that they see his case on its merits and appreciate everything he has done for his country.

"I'm not begging for some kind of thank-you, just for what is fair."

A Gloucestershire PCT spokesman said last night that it could not comment on individual cases but was sorry to hear Mr and Mrs Friar were unhappy.

He said: "We always aim to work with a patient and their family in carrying out an assessment so we can be sure that all of the facts are available and our assessment is understood.

"Every assessment is based on individual need and in cases such as these, financial support is provided as a contribution towards meeting the patient's ongoing nursing care.

"An appeals process is in place and this option is available if the individual or carer believes that the outcome is not the right one."