Budget battle Dementia sufferers are among those who should benefit from funding

Q What is continuing healthcare? A Continuing healthcare (CHC) is meant to help some of the most vulnerable people in society. Adults with long-term complex health needs can get free care and nursing arranged and paid for by the NHS. This is not means-tested and the decision is supposed to be based solely on the person’s medical situation.

This can include people with degenerative diseases – such as dementia and Parkinson’s – and people with complex disabilities, based on their care needs. Q How do you get continuing healthcare funding? A To get CHC you must be assessed by a team of healthcare professionals who look at what help a person needs and how complex their needs are.

Some people can be fast-tracked for CHC funding if they are nearing the end of their life. This means the assessment should be carried out within 48 hours.

Numerous families have found the process of applying for CHC to be hugely complex and time-consuming, and health officials can disagree over who should be eligible for the funding. Q How many people get CHC? A The latest figures from NHS England show that in the past five years, average eligibility for the funding per 50,000 of the population has fallen by nearly 15 per cent – from 69.33 per 50,000 in 2014-15 to 59.53 in the second quarter of 2019-20.

NHS England takes a “snapshot” of people – which means they look at how many were eligible on one particular day rather than across a period of time.

Experts said a squeeze on the CHC budget has made some Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGS) toughen up the decision making process on who gets the funding. Q What are the concerns about CHC? A Experts have warned that demand is growing for CHC funding as more people live longer with complex conditions at the same time as NHS England has told local CCGS to make £855m in savings on the CHC budget by 2020.

This has led to some CCGS turning people down for CHC funding who might previously have got it, experts have said.

It also seems to be harder to get CHC funding in certain parts of the country. Which?, the consumer group, recently found that there is a “postcode lottery” where some CCGS are far more likely to award CHC funding than others.

For example, South Reading CCG had the lowest level of people funded with just 8.78 patients per 50,000 people in its area, while Salford CCG funded 220.38 people per 50,000.

Cross-party MPS have warned that some people are dying while waiting for a decision on CHC funding.