What is NHS Continuing Healthcare?
NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) funding is a package of continuing care provided outside of a hospital arranged and funded solely by the NHS.
It can apply to care in a care home, hospice or in the patient’s home. It is care provided over an extended period of time to meet physical or mental health needs which have arisen as a result of disability, accident or illness.
Who pays for NHS Continuing Healthcare?
If an individual is assessed as eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding then the NHS will have responsibility to pay for the entire package of care.
In assessing eligibility for NHS funding it is necessary to consider the “nature, intensity, complexity and unpredictability” of an individual’s needs.
How long does NHS Continuing Healthcare last?
An NHS Continuing Healthcare funding award is not for life.
For example it is common in cases of dementia for funding to be withdrawn. This occurs when the initial issues of physical aggression associated with the condition significantly decrease as cognition deteriorates. In these circumstances, when the individual becomes more calm, they are considered to be easier to care for.
Who is eligible for Continuing Healthcare funding?
The bar for receiving CHC funding is set very high. However, it is estimated that although 1 in 14 care home residents are eligible for funding, a quarter who should have received funding did not actually do so.
Funding decisions can take a long time to be reached, particularly in retrospective funding claims where the patient has already passed away.
It not possible to claim back care fees for periods of care before 31 March 2012.
Call our free Continuing Healthcare legal helpline
Specialist lawyer Oliver Thorne heads up our care home refunds team. We operate a FREE Continuing Healthcare legal helpline on a nationwide basis. You can call Oliver for guidance on whether a loved one is entitled (or in retrospective cases, should have been entitled) to NHS Continuing Healthcare funding. Call 0333 888 0404 or email us at [email protected]
