0345 548 0300
NB. The emergency and post-emergency measures dictating care funding that were put in place during the COVID-19 crisis ceased on 1 April 2022. The information on this page is now out of date but may be useful for anyone who is reflecting on or challenging their funding arrangements between spring 2020 and spring 2022.
NHS Continuing Healthcare during and after the emergency
From 1 September 2020, NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) processes (assessments, reviews, appeals) will resume, but are unlikely to be back to normal for some time.
We have written an expert guide to the changes to CHC, for families who are in, or entering, the CHC system in the post-COVID period.
It covers:
- hospital discharge arrangements
- short-term funding of new care packages
- how people’s care funding will move from the emergency budget to long-term arrangements
- how the backlog of CHC assessments will be tackled.
If you need help to navigate Continuing Healthcare post-COVID, we are ready to support you.
We can provide 90 minutes of free advice, and we offer affordable casework and advocacy services if you need more support.
Find out how we can help you navigate Continuing Healthcare.
Past guidance
In March 2020 the UK government passed in to law emergency legislation – the Coronavirus Act 2020 – aimed at ensuring the NHS and social care systems would be able to cope during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) emergency period. It included temporary changes to hospital discharge procedures and NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC).
We set out in detail what the changes meant for families in, or entering, the CHC system. We also set out what families needed to do during this time to ensure their right to fair assessment, review and care choices could be exercised once the emergency period was over.
What changed?
Temporary arrangements for CHC were put in place for the duration of the coronavirus emergency period. These covered:
- hospital discharge arrangements
- who pays for new care packages
- the assessment of eligibility for CHC
- requests to appeal a previous decision of eligibility for CHC
- reviews of people already receiving CHC.
Why did these changes happen?
The temporary arrangements were brought in to achieve three objectives:
- To ensure patients could be safely discharged from acute hospital beds as quickly as possible.
- To reduce the volume of CHC assessments in all settings.
- To release NHS staff from CHC, to boost the workforce managing the coronavirus outbreak
