Contact our team of experts at Compass Continuing healthcare today to see if your relative is entitled to continuing healthcare to pay for their care home fees in full: 0800 008 7777.
Will the NHS pay for my care? The answer to this question is if the need for care primarily is a health need. If so then the NHS are obligated to meet the care costs of the individual in full. This funding is known as continuing healthcare, and is sometimes abbreviated to CHC funding.
The problem is that it is difficult to secure continuing healthcare. Providing this funding to individuals is incredibly expensive for the NHS, in the same way it is incredibly expensive to pay privately. Average costs per week for a nursing home in the UK are in the region of £800, or in excess of £41,000, and this can be far higher depending on the location and how complex the care needs of the particular patient are.
As a result it is regularly the case that the NHS attempt to apply a higher bar to satisfy than is set out in law and in the Department of Health literature pertaining to continuing healthcare. Many people who should be receiving in full to meet the cost of their care are not. It is estimated there are 100,000 in the UK presently paying for care when these costs should be met by continuing healthcare.
Securing continuing healthcare can therefore be a long drawn out process, but it is often a process worth engaging in due to what is at stake.
In the absence of continuing healthcare funding matters revert to the means testing position, whereby anyone with assets exceeding £23,250 are expected to meet the costs of their care in full until their assets fall below this figure.
Even when they fall below £23,250 they have to part contribute to their care costs until the savings reach the lower level of £14,000. And even when they reach this stage there is still an ongoing obligation to contribute to the cost of care from any income that is received.
Accordingly given that people can be forced to sell the family home to meet care and savings and assets accumulated over a lifetime can be swallowed to meet care costs it is often worthwhile and justifiable to pursue an entitlement to continuing healthcare.
The process of appeal a negative continuing healthcare decision is often complex and lengthy. As such the key to success is to ensure you have a suitably qualified expert on hand to advise you and prepare the case in such a manner that ensures the strongest prospect of success in the swiftest timeframe.
At Compass Continuing Healthcare we have a high success rate of securing continuing healthcare for our clients. If your relative is paying for care and you believe they have a health need, perhaps because they suffer from Parkinson’s disease, dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, then contact an expert member of our team today to discuss your options and find out how we can assist. Our office number is 0800 008 7777 or you can complete our FREE, NO OBLIGATION ASSESSMENT and we will consider the particular circumstances of your case and contact you to discuss how best to proceed.
Author: Tim Davies LLB
