What is NHS Continuing Healthcare?
NHS Continuing Healthcare is care fees funding provided by the NHS for people whose needs are primarily health needs.
It’s relevant to people who need care for health needs that arise from physical, mental and sensory illness or disability, including dementia.
NHS Continuing Healthcare is also known as ‘Continuing Care’ or ‘Fully Funded NHS Care’.
Many families who have an elderly relative needing full-time care find they’re either not given any information about NHS Continuing Care, or they’re given incorrect information.
What does NHS Continuing Care cover?
It covers 100% of care fees for people who need full-time care primarily for health reasons. It’s available whether you’re in a care home, in your own home, in a hospice or somewhere else.
- If you’re in a care home, NHS Continuing Healthcare covers all care fees, including the costs of accommodation.
- If you’re receiving care at home, it covers all nursing care plus personal care (bathing, dressing, etc.) plus any household costs directly related to care needs.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re in a residential home or a nursing home, the same rules apply: It’s about your health needs first, not where you live or how much money you have.
When you first need full-time care, you should have a health needs assessment for Continuing Care, carried out by the NHS. However, many people find that they are assessed first by the local authority, to test their financial means.
If your local authority does a means test before you’ve been assessed for NHS Continuing Care, this is the wrong way round. It breaks Dept of Health guidelines – and it’s also a breach of the law.
What is the ‘National Framework’?
Prior to 2007 each Health Authority had its own eligibility criteria for Continuing Healthcare. The result was a ‘postcode lottery’, great confusion and thousands of complaints to the Health Service Ombudsman.
In 2007 the Department of Health introduced a new ‘National Framework’ for England, with the aim of providing a consistent single assessment process for everyone. Most of these National Framework guidelines apply to Wales as well.
This National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care defines NHS Continuing Healthcare as follows:
“Continuing Care means care provided over an extended period of time to a person aged 18 or over to meet physical or mental health needs which have arisen as the result of disability, accident or illness… NHS Continuing Healthcare means a package of Continuing Care that is arranged and funded solely by the NHS… Eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare places no limits on the settings in which the package of support can be offered or on the type of service delivery.”
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