Tomorrow’s BBC File on 4 programme focusses its attention on NHS continuing healthcare and asks the question: can the NHS afford long-term community nursing care for the old and the sick? The radio documentary, which will be broadcast at 8:00pm on Tuesday evening, uses investigative journalism techniques to analyse the impact of backdated ‘claims’ on NHS budgets and to look into the problems faced by many people who are trying to access long-term health care funding.

The show features a discussion about the state of NHS continuing healthcare, including an interview with Beacon’s Managing Director, Dan Harbour. A number of the issues Beacon has been campaigning about recently will be addressed, including the reality that 7 years after the introduction of national guidance, eligibility remains a postcode lottery for many people. The programme will also highlight our growing concerns about delays in assessment timescales and the human impact of such delays on people who are stuck in the system.

The documentary uncovers situations in which NHS commissioners and councils are fighting each other over responsibility for patients in a system it describes as being ‘mired in controversy’.

At Beacon, we talk to people every day who have been adversely affected by problems in the continuing healthcare assessment system and the detrimental impact that procedural irregularities or poor decision-making has had on their lives, so we are pleased that a spotlight is being shone on some of the most fundamental failings in the system.

As independent stakeholders in the continuing healthcare policy group, we also recognise and welcome the fact that NHS England are taking these problems seriously and have emphasized their commitment to making improvements to those areas in which failings have been identified. We continue to urge NHS England to address these fundamental problems as a priority.

File on 4 is repeated on Sunday 23rd November at 5:00pm and will also be available to download directly from the BBC website.

To find out more about the issues raised in tomorrow’s programme click on the links below to read our news articles:

• NHS Data Shows Eligibility for Care Funding is Still a Postcode Lottery
• Unacceptable Delays in Continuing Healthcare Assessments
• How to Prepare for a Continuing Healthcare Assessment – Our Top Tips

If you or your friend/relative have been affected by any of the issues discussed in tomorrow’s programme and would like some advice about your situation, please call us on 0345 548 0300 or send us an email at enquiries@beaconchc.co.uk to schedule a surgery consultation with one of our advisers.