Age UK has published ‘Continuing healthcare?’, a report that Age UK say, “Points to the growing divergence between how NHS Continuing Healthcare funding is supposed to work, and how it actually works.”
The report is based on new Age UK analysis of the latest official data about trends in the award of CHC funding, and includes comments from families about their experiences of trying to secure and retain CHC funding for loved ones with multiple health challenges, including this quote:
“My mother who had dementia [and was] in a care home; made several appeals; won my case eventually and she got a refund of her care home fees, but died within two weeks of receiving it! This process takes a great deal of perseverance and an ability to challenge in a knowledgeable way – very time consuming and tiring. I did both of these in my 60s and 70s!”
Charity Director for Age UK, Caroline Abrahams, says:
“It’s no exaggeration to say that many families come to view Continuing Healthcare funding as a complete con, and the data suggest the gap between what it is supposed to do and what it is actually doing is growing. It is deeply unfair to expose families dealing with the serious ill health of a loved one to further trauma by making them battle for money in an opaque system, where decision-making seems pretty ad hoc and happens behind closed doors.”
You can read the report here: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/siteassets/documents/reports-and-publications/consultation-responses-and-submissions/health–wellbeing/continuing-to-care—nhs-continuing-healthcare-report.pdf