If you or a loved one has paid for care which was eligible for NHS funding under ‘Continuing Healthcare’ then you may be entitled to recover the costs. Contact our free Continuing Healthcare Helpline for an assessment of your entitlement to claim back the costs of care.
What is NHS continuing healthcare?
NHS continuing healthcare, sometimes referred to as simply NHS care or CHC is the term used where someone is entitled to have the cost of their care package covered by the NHS, including care home fees and the cost of care provided in a hospice or your own home.
This means that the individual’s home or savings don’t have to be used to fund their care.
Who can claim NHS continuing healthcare?
NHS continuing healthcare is restricted to those who are not in hospital but have a “complex medical condition and substantial and ongoing care needs”.
It must be a “primary health need” and the assessment is made on whether those needs are of a nature that a local authority is lawfully expected to provide and are intense, complicated and/or unpredictable. This means that their primary need for care relates to their health.
How can NHS continuing healthcare be claimed?
Applicants are screened and assessed according to their needs. The checklist will cover issues relating to mobility, breathing, continence, communication, cognition and symptom control. Decisions can be contentious since they are considered by a team of two or more health professionals involved in their care which allows for differing opinions in the grading of the individual’s needs. If you don’t agree with the assessment outcome, there is a process for challenging the decision.
How our solicitors can help with claiming back the costs of care.
Applications for Continuing Healthcare are not always correctly performed or assessed. We can assist families with the appeal process if they have received a decision that they are ineligible to receive CHC Funding. This process must be commenced within six months of being told that you, or your loved one, is not eligible for CHC Funding.
We can also assist families with submitting a retrospective application for CHC funding to enable them to claim back the costs of care that they have already paid out. If you have already submitted a retrospective application that has been turned down, you only have six months from the date you received that notification to submit your appeal.
We offer a fixed fee service and are frequently able to work on a No Win, No Fee basis. We will be happy to consider the suitability of any case for No Win, No Fee funding, completely free of charge.
This service is available even where the individual who received the care has passed away.
Free Continuing Healthcare helpline
To speak to our NHS continuing healthcare team about claiming back the costs of care, contact our free helpline by call 0333 888 0404 or emailing us at [email protected]. Alternatively you can complete and return our Continuing Healthcare Questionnaire for a free review.
