People receiving NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) who do not die “as quickly as expected” are at increasing risk of having their funding withdrawn, even if they remain profoundly ill and their needs are unchanged. This is according to a recent investigation by the charity Age UK, which looked at the statistics around Fast Track NHS CHC Funding.
The Fast Track Pathway is designed to allow NHS CHC to be put in place very quickly by a single clinician for people with a rapidly deteriorating condition that appears to be entering its final phase. It differs from the Standard Pathway in that there is no need for a full eligibility assessment carried out by a multi-disciplinary team, which can take many weeks to arrange and carry out.
Age UK’s report found that while there has been virtually a halving of the numbers of people being assessed as eligible on the Standard pathway over the past six years, the numbers found eligible for Fast Track CHC over the same period have increased by almost a third (30%). However, there has also been a massive 35% increase in the numbers of people having their Fast Track funding withdrawn following a review.
This is something we hear all the time at Just Caring Legal: many calls to our helpline are from people perplexed as to why their relative’s NHS CHC funding has been withdrawn when their care needs remain the same. Often the local NHS ICB, which administers the funding, justifies this by claiming that the needs have “stablilised” – even if this is only because they are being better managed. (Well-managed needs are still needs.)
The general picture, according to Age UK Charity Director Caroline Abrahams, is of an NHS CHC system which “seems to be moving away from being a source of longer term care funding for profoundly frail and unwell older people, to one focused more and more on short, sharp injections of cash to support those at the end of life. This is to the extent that if a person does not die as quickly as expected, they are at increasing risk of having their CHC funding taken away.” However, this was never the intended purpose or function of NHS CHC. It has arisen because ICBs, under pressure to make savings from their CHC budgets, are making decisions aimed at rationing funds rather than following the guidelines. As a result, many older people with ongoing chronic health problems, and associated high levels of care need, are missing out on life-changing funding that should be theirs. They are also failing to get the joined-up health and social care they desperately need. The end result, of course, is that they incur sky-high care bills that can easily run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. “In this way the NHS is pushing its own financial responsibilities onto older people and their families or, in the case of those on low incomes and with few assets, onto their local authorities,” Abrahams pointed out.
Has your NHS CHC funding been withdrawn, leaving you not knowing where to turn? Or perhaps you have an NHS CHC review coming up and fear that you will lose your care package? If so, check out our Resources section to find out more about your rights and what you can do. Or contact us for a free initial assessment of your case and a full explanation of our NHS CHC Services and how we can help.
Posted by Rosalind Hughes, founder, Just Caring Legal on 05/02/2025