THE family of a Newport entertainer who spent his last years in a nursing home has won back more than £100,000 in care fees he should not have had to pay.

Now Harry Denham's daughter Jane Czyrko is urging others whose relatives are funding their own care to have their health needs assessed to see if they qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare.

Mr Denham's £740-a-week nursing home fees should have been paid by the NHS under Continuing Healthcare rules.

But because no-one told his family he might be eligible, they sold his house after his wife died in 2003, so fees could be met.

They were unaware of the existence of Continuing Healthcare, and no-one involved in their father's care told them he might qualify.

The family's solicitors, Hugh James, have recovered more than £3.5 million in nursing home fees that need not have been paid, and Mrs Czyrko, from Caerleon, believes there are many more families forking out unnecessarily.

"He wasn't turned down (for Continuing Healthcare), we were just never asked and were not aware of it as an option," she said.

Mr Denham, of popular singing group The Fortunaires, died in February 2007, aged 80.

An Alzheimer's disease sufferer, he lived at Beechwood Park nursing home, Newport, for more than four years until its 2006 closure, and latterly St Anne's nursing home, Chepstow.

At first, he paid £85 a week towards costs, but after wife Flo died, the weekly cost increased to £740.

"We sold their house to fund his care," said Mrs Czyrko.

"They'd had money in the bank, the house, and we were told the next thing to do was sell the house and the proceeds would fund his care.

"As the money got down towards £22,000 (the threshold for total self-funding), we were told there wouldn't be enough to cover the fees and we'd have to pay £40 a week top-up.

"I thought, they'd had dad's money, now they want ours. He'd never been unemployed, or had benefits, he and mum saved all their lives. It didn't seem fair."

Only when Mrs Czyrko began work for the Alzheimer's Disease Society. after her father died, did she find out about Continuing Healthcare, after attending a course on the subject.

A retrospective application for Continuing Healthcare was submitted to Newport Local Health Board last year and a review panel ruled in the family's favour last week.