At this time of national crisis, the focus is very much on protecting the elderly. And yet, the ongoing scandal of NHS Continuing Health Care (CHC) continues and is in danger of being forgotten.
This would be a travesty. Whilst, quite rightly, our focus is on protecting our elderly relatives from COVID-19, we need to ensure that their long-term care needs are also looked after – and properly funded.
A short history lesson:
In December 2018, despite facing an increasingly elderly and frail population, the Government issued orders that, by the end of 2021, “efficiency savings of £850 million” needed to be made.
To achieve this, phrases such as “improving the commissioning of care packages” have been bandied about.
What does this euphemism actually mean? In practice, this translates as not providing sufficient care to individuals.
“Improving CHC processes including the supporting of staff of training and development” is another popular phrase. In our experience, this ‘training and development’ is often lacking. And this has sometimes resulted in the wrong decisions being made, due to not understanding the complexities of the National Framework.
At Steene Law, we hear heart-wrenching stories from relatives who are sick with worry. They call us because their vulnerable elderly relative, who had previously been granted CHC, has had their funding taken away.
Why is this happening? In many cases, we are hearing that some cold-hearted Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) – the local bodies responsible for granting CHC – are telling families that their relative only qualifies if they are confined to bed and just a few days from death.
Important fact check:
Alongside regular CHC there is also something known as ‘Fast Track CHC’. Fast Track should be given automatically, without an assessment (by the CCG), where a person is entering a terminal phase of their life. At a time when families are gathering around to say goodbye the very last thing they should be worrying about is who is going to pay for care.
Fast Track is available for anyone who has a prognosis that they have a rapidly deteriorating condition and may be entering a terminal phase i.e. dying. To be clear, this does not mean the final few days of life.
How can Steene Law help?
From our experience, CCGs are not following the rules on either fast track CHC or regular CHC funding.
When it comes to regular CHC funding, we are unfortunately all too well aware of the tactics employed by CCGs. They may deny Checklists (the first stage of CHC). In other cases, we have known them incorrectly or unlawfully complete the Decision Support Tools (the second stage of CHC). In other cases, we have discovered that have not provided the correct level of funding to meet all of a person’s needs.
When making the decision to provide fast track CHC, we sadly come across cases where the CCG has misinterpreted the rules, denying someone with a terminal diagnosis, the care and support they rightfully should receive.
Here at Steene Law, we have the legal knowledge to cut through this nonsense. If you are hitting a brick wall with the CCG and they are denying your loved one CHC, call us now.
Call us on 0203 653 0623 for a free, initial telephone conversation. We are available from 8am to 7pm, Monday to Friday.
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