Your Guide To Continuing Healthcare (CHC)
CHC Funding may cover 100% of your care fees
This information about Continuing Healthcare funding is for anyone about to start paying for care, or who is already incurring the cost.
Too many people entering the care system have no idea that their care fees could be paid in full by the NHS – yes, every penny! However, accessing this funding isn’t straightforward and the NHS does not freely advertise its availability or volunteer to help you obtain it.
Free initial advice
We will be able to give you an honest assessment of whether we believe you may be eligible for Free NHS funding.
CHC is a package of care, commissioned and funded solely by the NHS, which meets the all their assessed health and social care needs, including the cost of accommodation.
The National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS Funded Nursing Care (“the National Framework”) sets out national guidance from the Department of Health, covering all aspects of the assessment and appeals process, and the eligibility criteria.
The latest National Framework (July 2022), has increased to a whopping 187 pages and is essential reading for anyone seeking CHC funding for themselves or their relative.
The National Framework is freely available to download online. However, understanding the copious rules and guidance, and applying them in practice, is a different matter!
In short, any adult aged 18 or over who has a ‘Primary Health Need’ and requires care as a result of a disability, accident or illness, may be eligible for CHC.
A person has a Primary Health Need when it can be said the majority of the care they require is focused on managing or preventing health, both mental and physical.
The National Framework sets out the process for assessing CHC eligibility using national standardised assessment tools – including the Checklist, Decision Support Tool and Fast Track tool.
The full assessment involves completion of the Decision Support Tool (DST) by a Multidisciplinary Team (MDT). Once complete, the DST is used to assess the nature, intensity, complexity and unpredictability of the individual’s needs, and to determine whether they have a Primary Health Need.
Absolutely not! Money and financial status should never be a consideration.
Once an individual is found eligible for CHC, the NHS must fund the full cost of meeting all their health and social care needs.
No, CHC funding is not linked to any particular condition, disease or diagnosis. So, for example, if your relative has dementia, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, that does not automatically qualify them for CHC funding. CHC is about assessed needs and not any label ascribed to a specific condition.
Eligibility for CHC funding is determined by the quality and degree of the care interventions required to meet the assessed needs, regardless of why the care is needed, who it is delivered by or where it is provided.
No. The setting where the care takes place is irrelevant. CHC funding applies to any care setting. So, whether you require care in your own home, a care or nursing home, hospice or some other care facility – it doesn’t matter. It’s not about the setting, so don’t be told otherwise!
Due to the veil of secrecy surrounding its availability, Continuing Healthcare funding has often been described as the NHS’s “best kept secret”.