Severely disabled people will now no longer have funding suddenly pulled from them.

Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke has had written the assurance from a heath minister after he stopped one of his constituents' payments being halted.

Mr Elphicke fought to get funding re-instated for Clare Costelloe, 43, who has a rare disease called neuro-Behcet’s Syndrome.

The resident of Martha Trust in Hacklinge is blind, epileptic and wheelchair-bound.

She was receiving NHS Continuing Care Funding but a review by Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group found she "no longer meets the criteria," even though her conditon is worsening.

Mr Elphicke pushed the CCG into conducting an new review and keeping up payments but also raised the matter with Caroline Dinenage, Minister for Health and Social Care.

The Minister has since written to Mr Elphicke confirming the Department of Health has now published a revised National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care, which is effective from October 1.

Ms Dinenage said: “The framework states that, as a matter of policy, there should be no gap between NHS and local authority social care responsibilities.

“It is a core principle that neither a CCG nor a local authority should unilaterally withdraw from an existing funding arrangement without a joint reassessment of the individual, and without first consulting one another.

“Therefore, if there is a change in eligibility, it is essential that alternative funding arrangements be agreed and put into effect before any withdrawal of existing funding, in order to ensure continuity of care.

“If agreement between the NHS and local authority cannot be reached on the proposed change, the local disputes procedure should be invoked.

"Current funding and care management responsibilities should remain in place until the dispute has been resolved.”

Mr Elphicke also told ministers it “cannot be right” that one person could “rip away such crucial funding with the stroke of a pen”.

The MP said: “Clare should never have been put in that position. The family had no idea what was going to happen.

“So I am delighted ministers have taken what we said on board. It is now there in black and white that payments for severely disabled people will continue, no matter what.

“This is good news for Clare – but it is also a brand new safeguard for thousands of vulnerable people.”

Clare’s parents Brian and Sue Costelloe said: “"We can’t thank Charlie and his team enough for their support.

“Now we have changed national policy, which is quite something."