Paying Care Home Fees?
If you’re paying care home fees (or you pay for full-time care at home) and you have health needs, you could be entitled to NHS Continuing Healthcare.
Many people assume that if you have some savings or you own a property, you have to pay for your own care.
This is not necessarily the case.
How reliable is the information you have?
Did you know that the NHS is obliged to pay 100% of your care home fees if you need care primarily for health reasons? This funding is called NHS Continuing Healthcare.
However, if your local authority is aware you have some savings, you may not receive any advice about this.
The NHS is also obliged to refund people retrospectively for care fees wrongly charged in the past. This includes refunding the estate of someone who has already died. Deadline for claims: 30th September 2012.
Read more about NHS Continuing Healthcare.
What to look for when choosing a care home.
Assessment procedures are often flawed
There are NHS and local authority guidelines covering almost every aspect of Health and Social Care Funding – and yet these guidelines are often ignored. In addition, many people also find that health and social care employees are not always aware of the correct procedures to follow, or which forms to complete, or even the legal framework within which they’re making funding decisions.
As a result, tens of thousands of elderly people in care homes every year are illegally forced to pay for care that should rightly be funded by the NHS.
It’s vital to double-check all the information you’re given by your local authority and NHS. They may give you incorrect information – even if it’s done with good intent.
The deadline for retrospective claims for NHS Continuing Healthcare is now 30th September 2012 – so get your claim in quickly. We can help. Complete our online enquiry form.
Two types of nursing care funding:
- Fully-funded NHS care is called NHS Continuing Healthcare. This covers 100% of care fees.
- Registered Nursing Care Contribution (RNCC), a weekly allowance to cover some nursing care.
You should ALWAYS be assessed for NHS Continuing Healthcare BEFORE you’re assessed for RNCC.
Beware of conflicting agendas
You may experience a ‘battle of wills’ between Social Services (the local authority) and the NHS in terms of who pays for care. Generally speaking:
- Social Services (your local authority) provides social care (which is means-tested)
- the NHS provides health/nursing care (which is free at the point of use)
If you have health needs and someone speaks to you about an ‘assessment’, make sure it’s an assessment for NHS Continuing Care and not a Local Authority financial assessment.
Logically, the NHS wants Social Services to pick up the bill for care. That may be why ‘health’ needs often seem to be incorrectly defined by the NHS as ‘social’ needs.
Conversely, Social Services will want people with no savings (and whose means-test shows they cannot pay for care) to be funded by the NHS.
Sadly, online forums show that many families are caught between the two sides. That’s why it’s vital to understand the funding you may be entitled to.
How to get the NHS to pay for care
Having to choose a care home, negotiate the care ‘system’, understand care fees and figure out what to do next can be exhausting. It’s no wonder many families feel confused and exasperated.
Care To Be Different can help. We act as a guide for you – someone on your side who’s ‘been there and done it’ and knows what should and shouldn’t happen.
Explore how our services can help.
Download this practical guide to care fees
Avoid being wrongly charged for care! Remember, just because you have savings doesn’t necessarily mean you have to pay care fees.
How To Get The NHS To Pay For Care is a 109-page, easy-to-follow guide that helps you cut through the confusion and claim what you’re entitled to. It could save you or your relative from losing the family home.
