For information on the final close down of Continuing Healthcare retrospective review process, click here.

NHS Continuing Healthcare is the name given to a package of services which is arranged and funded by the NHS for people outside hospital with ongoing health needs. You can get Continuing Healthcare in any setting, including your own home or in a care home.

NHS Continuing Healthcare is free, unlike help from social services for which a charge may be made depending on your income and savings. If you do not qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare you will still receive mainstream services free of charge, i.e. GP, District Nursing Services, Specialist therapy.

In your own home, the NHS will pay for healthcare (e.g. services from a community nurse or specialist therapist) and personal care (e.g. help with bathing, dressing and laundry). In a care home, the NHS pays for your care home fees, including board and accommodation.

Who is eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare?

Anyone assessed as requiring a certain level of care need, can get NHS Continuing Healthcare. It is not dependent on a particular disease, diagnosis or condition, or on who provides the care or where that care is provided. The circumstances can include:

• older people with chronic illness or disabilities
• older people suffering from mental illness or dementia
• people suffering from mental illness
• physically disabled adults
• people with learning disabilities
• people who are terminally ill.

If your overall care needs show that your primary need is a health one, you should qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare. The primary health need should be assessed by looking at all of your care needs and relating them to four key indicators:

• nature - the type of condition or treatment required (quality and quantity)
• complexity - symptoms that interact; therefore difficult to manage or control
• intensity - one or more health needs, so severe they require regular intervention
• unpredictability - unexpected changes in condition that are difficult to manage and present a risk to you or to others.

What if I am not eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare?

If you do not qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare then you may have to pay for some or all of your care, although the NHS will still provide for your medical needs. You may have to take a local authority means test to decide how much you should pay towards your personal care and accommodation if you are in a care home.

Process for NHS Continuing Healthcare and Funded Nursing Care

The assessment of eligibility for NHS funding begins with the National Screening Tool using the Checklist Tool, which can be carried out by any health or social care professional.

If a patient is not eligible they will be passed to Community Care to have their social care needs assessed.

If a patient is eligible a multi disciplinary team should carry out the full eligibility assessment using the Decision Support Tool.