RULES on which pensioners should get NHS cash for care home bills have not been "applied consistently" a health boss has admitted.

Payouts have been haphazard and were now having to be put right, one of Blackburn with Darwen NHS Primary Care Trust's senior officers said.

Today Beverley Hood, whose late mother Barbara Garlick was forced to sell her Burnley home to pay her nursing home bills, said she hoped others would now get their money back.

Janet Ledward, director of commissioning, strategic development and performance management at the PCT, spoke after the authority had to pay out almost £89,000 to the family of a woman who died in 2000.

The PCT had previously denied the woman's family the money but were then told by an independent review panel to pay up.

Bosses have now been given further guidance on who should receive cash and who should not.

She said: "The rules weren't applied consistently. The guidance wasn't applied properly. They are applied more consistently now but one nurse's opinion can still differ from another's.

"What we need to do is share information about cases with other PCTs to see that we are consistent in our approach."

Mrs Ledward went on: "I am far more confident there is now training and development to assess patients effectively."

Yet she said the PCT still had to "speed up the process" of deciding on cases.

The payments, known as "continuing care" cases, have caused controversy nationwide with some people having to sell their homes to pay the bills.

Campaigners argue people whose main need is through their health should get free treatment on the NHS.

The PCT this week agreed to hand £88,931 to the family of a female pensioner for her care at a Blackburn nursing home between April 1996 and October 2000.

Last month the PCT had to pay out £13,765 for the nine months a pensioner spent in a home in 2003 and 2004 after being overruled by the independent review panel.

One more "retrospective" case turned down by the NHS is presently being dealt with.

Mrs Hood is now hoping the independent panel will help recover more than £40,000.

She said: "It is such a burden on families, it is terrible. I don't think PCTs are going through the proper procedures. There should be national guidance."

Bob Simpson, vice chairman of the Patient and Public Involvement Forum watchdog which oversees the PCT, said it was unacceptable that criteria had not been applied properly.

But he said: "It is encouraging to know that they are aware that there have been problems and that there is now a much more consistent vetting process.

"You pay all your life into the NHS then you should be looked after by the NHS."