Launch of new care, health & wealth management team

A multi-disciplinary legal team, believed to be among the most comprehensive in the North, has been launched by Harrowells Solicitors, to support families living with dementia.

The Care, Health & Wealth Management Team, which brings together 12 lawyers from different disciplines, was officially launched to mark Dementia Awareness Week 2015 on May 17-23.

A wide range of legal support is being made available to individuals, families, care and nursing organisations through the team which comprises specialist lawyers from departments including private client, commercial, employment, residential and commercial property, personal injury and medical negligence.

The team will meet regularly to discuss latest available information and best practice and to share contacts across a range of specialist organisations which assist families faced with the challenges of living with dementia and subsidiary conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, as well as other long-term care and health issues.

The team’s services include advising on setting up and dealing with legal frameworks such as Lasting Powers of Attorney, Court of Protection and Advance Directives; advice on care funding; the legal aspects of wealth management where funds are managed to pay for care; employment advice for care organisations and individual families on hiring carers.

Specialists within the team also provide legal support for vulnerable adults who have suffered financial exploitation, neglect or emotional and/or physical abuse; legal representation in family disputes; conveyancing where individuals need to move home because of care and health issues and commercial services to  residential as well as ‘in-home’ care organisations.

The Care, Health and Wealth Management Team will also link legal expertise with practical advice by offering families affected by dementia details of organisations which can assist.

Latest figures issued by the Alzheimer’s Society show that more than 11,000 people in York and North Yorkshire have dementia and this is expected to rise to 16,000 in the next decade. Up to 850,000 UK people have a form of dementia and, in fewer than 10 years, a million people will have dementia. This is forecast to soar to 2m by 2051.

Harrowells partner and lead member of the team, Hudda Morgan, who specialises in services to the elderly, says: “Society has long been urged to prepare for increasing incidences of dementia disease but what is the best way to do this?

“The challenges involved when you, or a relative, is incapacitated through a condition of this kind are complex and daunting. People cannot become experts overnight which is why we believe that providing a comprehensive, joined-up service is best. With our specialist team, families and organisations can access a broad expertise and support, in one place from lawyers with a special interest in such cases and the practical experience to provide real help.”

Two members of the team, Sally Edwards and Dawn Moore, have trained to become Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Champions and are involved in an initiative to make York a Dementia Friendly Community. They give free one-hour awareness sessions to local organisations so they understand how to adapt their approach when dealing with people living with the condition.

Another member, commercial division solicitor, Matthew Rowley, provided legal support for the establishment of a Pocklington-based care business, At Home – Specialists in Care, earlier this year.