A BBC television programme has highlighted the case of a sick man whose brother from Acton Bridge is fighting for him to receive continuing care.

On Sunday, The Politics Show spoke to Stephen Johnson, whose brother Rod is in Redwalls Nursing Home in Sandiway, and to MP Joan Hamble from Blackpool, who is chairman of an all-party group on social care to ask her what the Government was doing to help.

Rod, 53, had a massive stroke on May 24, 2005.

He was treated in Warrington General Hospital to begin with and then moved to Redwalls, where he is funding his own care because the authorities refuse to pay.

Stephen, of Strawberry Lane, Acton Bridge, says the Central and Eastern Primary Care Trust is acting unlawfully in making him pay.

Under the current system, the NHS will meet all costs of long term care if it is deemed to be for medical reasons but if it is considered social care the costs are means tested, with the patient expected to pay for some or all of their care costs.

Stephen was delighted with the way the programme was portrayed.

Bleddyn Hancock, who is chairman of NCODS miners' union in Wales and who fights for continuing care for former miners, also appeared.

Stephen said: "It was fantastic. I just wished the programme could have gone on a bit longer."