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What is continuing healthcare?
NHS continuing healthcare, also known as fully funded NHS care, is free care outside of hospital that is arranged and funded by the NHS. If you are eligible for NHS continuing healthcare, NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly will fund the care needed to meet your identified care needs.
For additional information please visit the national continuing healthcare page.
Who is eligible for continuing healthcare?
Eligibility does not depend on a particular disease, condition, or diagnosis. Nor does it depend on where the care is provided, or by whom. If an assessment determines that you have a primary health need, you may be eligible.
You need to be aged 18 or older, and be assessed as having a certain level of care need to be entitled to NHS continuing healthcare. Assessments for eligibility will be made in accordance with the national framework for NHS continuing healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care.
Children and young people aged under 18 with complex health needs may be eligible for NHS continuing care funding.
What happens if I don’t meet the criteria?
Funded nursing care
For people in a nursing home who do not meet the funding criteria, they may be eligible for NHS funded nursing care. This is because the nursing fee includes an additional cost for the employment of registered nurses. The decision on whether you are eligible will be provided at the same time that a decision is made regarding your eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare.
Other health and social care services
If you have a medical need, you will continue to get health support through your GP or the community health team. If you have social needs, you can apply for help from Cornwall Council or the Council of the Isles of Scilly. The Cornwall Care Services directory can direct you to services that could help you more.
Continuing healthcare appeals
In order to receive funding for NHS continuing healthcare, you will have to be assessed. When the assessment results in a decision that you are not eligible, there is an appeal process.
If you are not happy with the decision, get in contact the team manager within 6 months of receipt of the written decision about your eligibility.
If they are unable to help you with your concerns, they will pass your details on to our appeals team. This will begin our local resolution process.
Independent review panel
If we have been unable to resolve your appeal, you can apply for a review of our decision. The NHS England independent review panel process is co-ordinated by the NHS continuing healthcare teams in each of the 4 regions of NHS England.
Broadcare
Broadcare is our database for continuing healthcare and funded nursing care information.
It is a database developed through our experience of working within the continuing healthcare sector.
Through this, we can:
- understand what functions are needed
- how to integrate them together
- consider the issues for IT systems within primary care
With Broadcare, we can capture important patient data in a single place. Then, we can look at trends and create reports measuring our performance.
Freedom of information
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives a right of access to all types of recorded information held by public bodies, like the NHS. This includes information held by our continuing healthcare team. Find out more about our freedom of information process.
Before making a request, you may find the information you are looking for in the national benchmarking data.
The act does not give people access to their own personal data, such as their health records. If you want to see information that we hold about you, please make a subject access request.
Contact the team
If you would like to get in contact with the continuing healthcare team you can do so by using the following details. For general continuing healthcare queries please email ciosicb.chc@nhs.net. Please use this for all enquiries into CHC.
Assessment Team
Praze-an-Beeble Surgery
School Road
Praze-an-Beeble
Camborne
TR14 OLB
Call 01209 832400 or email the assessment team.
Review Team
Praze-an-Beeble Surgery
School Road
Praze-an-Beeble
Camborne
TR14 OLB
Call 01209 832400 or email the review team.
Non-core team
Part 2S Chy Trevail
Beacon Technology Park
Dunmere Road
Bodmin
PL31 2FR
Appeals team
Praze-an-Beeble Surgery
School Road
Praze-an-Beeble
Camborne
TR14 OLB
Call 01209 832406 or email the appeals team.
Continuing healthcare useful links and websites
- Age UK
- Alzheimer’s Society
- Beacon can provide 90 minutes of free impartial advice. After the initial 90 minutes there is a financial charge which they will inform you of. Call 0345 548 0300 or visit their website for free resources and information.
- Cornwall Care Services Directory
- Healthwatch Cornwall and Healthwatch Isles of Scilly are independent champions for people who use health and social care services. Their job is to make sure that those who run local health and care services understand and act on what really matters to people.
- National framework for NHS funded healthcare
- National guidance on personal health budgets
Previously unassessed periods of care
The previously unassessed periods of care group of clients were based on Department of Health and Social Care guidelines for periods between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2012.
NHS Kernow met the deadline imposed by NHS England of giving yes or no answers to the 574 cases that they investigated. There are cohorts of patients who are appealing these decisions.
If you think you may have had a period of unassessed care after 31 March 2012, email the continuing health appeals team.
Frequently asked questions
Find answers to frequently asked questions about NHS continuing healthcare in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Multidisciplinary teams
Is an invitation extended to Cornwall Council for a social worker to attend as a member of the multidisciplinary team?
Yes, Cornwall Council are invited to send a representative to all decision support tool (DST) assessments.
Continuing healthcare data
How many adults were assessed for eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in each of the last 5 years?
The data provided is counting all new DST decision events recorded, so is just continuing healthcare and not fast track:
- 2018 to 2019: 868
- 2019 to 2020: 558
- 2020 to 2021: 300
- 2021 to 2022: 529
- 2022 to 2023: 478
Of all adults who were assessed for eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, how many were found to be eligible in each of the last 5 years?
The data provided relates to DST decisions for continuing healthcare referrals that had an outcome of yes:
- 2018 to 2019: 593
- 2019 to 2020: 380
- 2020 to 2021: 240
- 2021 to 2022: 349
- 2022 to 2023: 271
In total, how many adults have received NHS continuing healthcare in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in each of the last 5 years?
The data provided is the number of adults that had at least 1 day of continuing healthcare fully funded care in the calendar year:
- 2018 to 2019: 862
- 2019 to 2020: 731
- 2020 to 2021: 485
- 2021 to 2022: 394
- 2022 to 2023: 347
What was the average value of an adult’s NHS continuing healthcare package in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in each of the last 5 years?
The data provided is a mean average. We take the total spend on NHS continuing healthcare fully funded packages in the year and divide by the number of packages that contribute to that spend:
- 2018 to 2019: £19,610
- 2019 to 2020: £23,675
- 2020 to 2021: £37,154
- 2021 to 2022: £39,659
- 2022 to 2023: £30,598
What was the average value of a personal health budget in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in each of the last 5 years?
The data provided is a mean average and filtered to only show information for personal health budgets:
- 2018 to 2019: £25,312
- 2019 to 2020: £26,411
- 2020 to 2021: £41,334
- 2021 to 2022: £40,556
- 2022 to 2023: £23,569
Continuing healthcare
Are all NHS continuing healthcare assessors employed by the ICB direct or on a contract from another employer or supplier? Or a mixture of both? If it is a mixture, please confirm the numbers of each type.
Continuing healthcare nurse assessors have employment contracts with NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly in line with Agenda for Change terms and conditions.
Does NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly use any third party software providers to manage continuing healthcare and funded nursing care processes, such as Caretrack, Broadcare, SystemOne or Health Analytics?
We use Broadcare, which is a patient database and SBS Oracle for invoicing.
Page last reviewed: 11 April 2024