Continuing Healthcare (CHC)
NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is a care package for people aged over 18 that is funded entirely by the NHS. To qualify for CHC, you’ll need to be assessed to see if you have a ‘primary health need’ that requires healthcare, rather than social care.
What is NHS CHC?
If you’re eligible for CHC, the NHS will pay for your care. This will be reviewed regularly, especially if your care needs change, so there’s a possibility you might have to pay for your care in the future.
To be eligible for CHC, you don’t need to have a disability, specific health condition or illness, and it doesn’t depend on where the care will be provided.
Applying for CHC funding
There are a few steps in the process, which we’ve laid out for you below.
Checklist
We no longer accept CHC checklists via email directly to our assessment teams.
Since July, we have rolled out the use of our online referral portal which is part of our Broadcare system. This portal allows users to sign in and submit checklists directly into Broadcare for the relevant assessment team to pick up and action.
For any queries relating to the portal, or for any new users that need help getting access, they will need to email the CHC team at nnicb-nn.chcteam@nhs.net.
Full assessment
If the Checklist shows you are eligible for a full assessment, a CHC co-ordinator will arrange a meeting with you, your representative(s) and a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) of health and social care professionals who are involved in your care. After the meeting, which usually takes about two hours, the MDT will make a recommendation to the ICB. The MDT can recommend:
- fully funded CHC, in your home or in a nursing or residential home;
- NHS funded nursing care in a nursing home;
- a joint funded package of care, with social care, in your home or in another location; or
- that you are not eligible for funding.
Some of these options may include means testing, or extra charges by a care home for ‘lifestyle choices’ that are outside normal health and social care costs.
ICB decision
Only in exceptional circumstances, and for clear reasons, will the MDT’s recommendation not be followed. However, we can ask for more evidence if we’re not able to verify the recommendation.
If you are unhappy with the ICB decision
If you are unhappy with either the process or a decision made regarding eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare, you can request a review of the decision by contacting the ICB. For further information regarding the review of an eligibility decision, please click on the link for the Local Resolution Procedure. For any further information please contact the team at nnicb-nn.chcteam@nhs.net.
Contacting the continuing healthcare team
Please call 01158 831825 (public phone number)
For professionals:
Bassetlaw:
- 01777 200050
- Completed checklists and referrals: Nnicb-nn.Bassetlawcontinuinghealthcare@nhs.net
Mid Notts:
- 01623 785450 (patients and families can also call this number)
- Completed checklists and referrals: nnicb-nn.midnottschc
- Fast track referrals: nnicb-nn.midnottsfasttrack
Nottingham and South Notts:
- 0115 8834720
- Completed Checklists and Referrals: nnicb-nn.continuingcarenotts
- Fast Track Referrals: nnicb-nn.fasttrackreferralsnotts
- Children’s Service Referrals: nnicb-nn.childrenscontinuingcareservice
- Personal Health Budgets: nnicb-nn.personalhealthbudgetsnotts
- Community Deprivation of Liberty (CDOL):nnicb-nn.cdols@nhs.net
Nursing care funding
If the MDT recommends that care is provided by a registered nurse in a nursing or care home, you might be entitled to a contribution towards assisted nursing. This funding is known as NHS Funded Nursing Care.
Before a decision on nursing care funding is made, you’ll need to be assessed in the same way as we’ve explained in the ‘applying for CHC funding’ section above. If you aren’t eligible for CHC funding but are entitled to nursing care funding, we’ll make the contribution directly to the nursing or care home.
The rest of the cost will be paid through the local authority, or if you are not eligible for social care support you might have to fund your care yourself.
Personal health budgets
A personal health budget (PHB) is an amount of money planned and agreed between you (or your representative) and the ICB to support your health and social care needs.
All CHC funding for care in your own home is now funded in the form of a PHB. It can be provided in three different ways, for more information please visit the Personal Health Budget web page…
More information on PHBs
Information for providers
Rates for care providers (at home or care home) are determined by either AQP contract agreements or individual package agreements. Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB rates are automatically uplifted at the beginning of each financial year for AQP providers. Individually negotiated prices are not routinely uplifted in the same way. The ICB will consider uplift requests within the national planning guidance each year between 1 April and 30 June. Uplift requests should be sent to nnicb-nn.chcteam@nhs.net by the 30 June. Uplift requests received after this date will not be considered.
