Guides

Understand the CHC process

Plain-English guides to NHS Continuing Healthcare, checked against the National Framework and its official guidance. Start with the basics, or jump to the stage your case is at.

• What is NHS Continuing Healthcare?The funding itself: what CHC pays for, who decides, why money is never part of the test, and the process end to end.
• The CHC Checklist: the 11 domains and scoresThe screening step: how the 11 domains are scored A, B or C, the exact referral threshold, and how families prepare.
• CHC eligibility criteria: the four testsThe primary health need test, the four characteristics of need, and the things that never decide eligibility.
• Refused CHC: what to do nextThe review ladder after a refusal: get the records, local resolution, the Independent Review Panel, and the Ombudsman.
• NHS-funded Nursing Care: how FNC worksThe lower award: what FNC covers, how it differs from full CHC, and the rules that protect existing funding.
• Who pays for care home fees in England?The three routes: self-funding, the council after a means test, and the NHS through CHC, which is decided by need.
• The Decision Support Tool: the 12 DST domainsThe full assessment: the 12 domains, the levels each can reach, the eligibility indicators, and how to prepare.
• CHC fast track: how the pathway worksThe urgent route: who qualifies, the clinician who starts it, and the 48-hour expectation once the Tool is in.
• Retrospective CHC claims: past care feesThe route for care already paid for: the 2012 boundary, who can apply after a death, and the deadlines.

More guides are on the way: per-domain DST preparation and free letter templates.