FAMILIES who were told funding for their severely disabled loved ones would be withdrawn have welcomed a report which said their cases must now be reviewed.

But they vowed to continue their fight if money is still taken away after NHS Devon was given the green light to re-look at cases where funding for "continuing care" had previously been granted.

The independent report, published yesterday, criticised the way some of Devon's most vulnerable patients had their care funding cut. It was commissioned in February after several relatives of those affected expressed their anger in the Echo.

When it reviewed 300 cases, NHS Devon found just over half were no longer eligible. But the report has criticised the health authority for tackling a financial overspend as a higher priority to the needs of patients.

It said although NHS Devon was right to review the cases there had been a lack of regard for patients and families and more should have been done to involve them in the process.

Among those who had been anxiously awaiting the outcome was Jackie Bowen. She had previously been told her mum, Josephine Gates, no longer met the criteria.

She suffers from cerebral atrophy Alzheimer's and at the age of 60 she lives at Check House, Seaton, and requires 24-hour care as she is unable to walk, talk, eat, drink or go to the toilet by herself.

Mrs Bowen, 38, said: "I totally agree with the criticism over the lack of communication with relatives. I was not involved at all in the original review. No one was. The first I knew was a letter through the post to say the funding had been taken away. It was done in completely the wrong way and I thought it was beyond a joke.

"They are obviously entitled to review cases but when somebody is in that much need of care I can't understand why funding would be taken away."

Mrs Bowen has been told to expect a call in a couple of weeks with details of her mother's fresh review.

She said: "I would now not expect anything less than her funding being reinstated. I will fight it all the way if it is not.

"It is disgusting the way everyone has been treated. The stress on the families has been incredible."

Kathy Oxenham, of St Thomas, whose mother, Ellen Dempsey, 75, has multi-infarct dementia, caused by a series of mini-strokes, currently receives the funding, but fears a fresh review of the case carried out this week could see it taken away.

Of the report, she said: "It is good as long as it is acted upon. The review is done without any communication, discussion and explanation of how the decision is made.

"But I am unhappy that the criteria that is used to make decisions was not criticised or looked into in any detail. The scoring system is open to so much misinterpretation.

"If we are refused in this latest review we will continue to fight this all the way."

She said her mother deteriorated badly and although she had got a bit of mobility back, had become increasingly violent and aggressive and required constant care.

The chief executive of NHS Devon, Dr Kevin Snee, said: "We will be contacting all of those affected in the coming couple of weeks and we're going to make sure we get the communications right to ensure people are involved in the process."