Contact our team of experts at Compass Continuing healthcare today for FREE to see if your relative is entitled to funded nursing care: 0800 008 7777
Contact our team of experts at Compass Continuing healthcare today for FREE to see if your relative is entitled to funded nursing care and other funding options to limit their liability for care fees. Our office number is 0800 008 7777. Alternatively please complete our FREE online assessment and we will contact you.
What is funded nursing care?
This is a contribution towards an individual’s care home costs paid for by the NHS to reflect the fact that the individual has nursing needs that can only be met by a registered nurse. As such the payment of funded nursing care is made to reflect the nursing cost element of the care that the individual requires. Funded nursing care is not the same as continuing healthcare funding. They are entirely separate forms of funding provided by the NHS.
If you have a relative paying for care but receiving funded nursing care then you should contact the Compass Continuing Health care team to investigate whether the full cost of the individual’s care should be met via continuing healthcare funding. The NHS have already conceded that the individual’s need for care is a nursing need as the funded nursing care has been provided. Therefore it may be possible to establish that primarily the need for care is a health need and as such there should be no requirement to pay any care costs.
Contact us today on 0800 008 7777 or complete our assessment today and we shall contact you.
NHS-funded nursing care is payments will only be made when the individual is receiving care in a nursing home environment. The payment will not be made, even if the individual is eligible for it, if they are in a residential home or receive care in their own home. This is because the payment is meant to reflect the additional costs of a registered nurse having to be employed to assist with the individual’s nursing needs. A registered nurse will only be employed in a nursing home and as such this is the only setting that funded nursing care contributions will be paid.
Who is eligible for NHS-funded nursing care?
An individual shall be eligible for NHS-funded nursing care where:
They live in a care home registered to provide nursing care (a nursing home) and
The individual does not qualify for full continuing healthcare funding but has been assessed as having nursing needs requiring the administration of care from a registered nurse.
Where an individual satisfies these criteria the NHS will make a payment directly to the care home to fund the care provided by the registered nurse.
How is funded nursing care assessed?
An individual should first be assessed for their eligibility for continuing healthcare funding, namely whether their need for care is primarily a health need. Only once eligibility for continuing healthcare funding has been refused will an eligibility for funded nursing care be considered.
Where an individual is eligible for funded nursing care the NHS will arrange for a payment to be made directly to the case home.
As outlined on the NHS website, in May 2022, the rate was set at £209.19 a week (standard rate) and will be backdated to 1 April 2022.
If you moved into a care home before 1 October 2007, and you were on the previous high band, NHS-funded nursing care will be paid at a higher rate. In May 2022, the rate was set at £287.78 a week and will be backdated to 1 April 2022.
Whilst this is something towards the costs it is unfortunately somewhat of a drop in the ocean against the average costs of a nursing home which exceed £1,600 a week.
Full continuing healthcare funding pays for the cost of care in full and as such you cannot receive funded nursing care and continuing healthcare funding at the same time. They are mutually exclusive.
If your relative is paying privately for care, whether they presently receive funded nursing care or not, contact the Compass CHC team for a free discussion about whether there are any options available for avoiding the high cost of care. Our office number is 0800 008 7777.
Author: Tim Davies LLB
