Should You Be Paying for Nursing or Care Home Fees?

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Nursing Home Fees Paid By the NHS

If you have physical or mental health needs as the result of a disability, an illness or an accident, and are aged 18 or over, the NHS is obligated to look after your needs. And if you require nursing care over an extended period of time in order to meet those needs, the NHS should provide you with Continuing Healthcare or NHS-funded nursing care.

If you have had to pay for long-term care for yourself or another due to physical or mental health needs, you may be eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare. It may be possible to reclaim costs incurred due to those needs, as well as secure funding for long term care in the future.

What is NHS Continuing Healthcare?

NHS Continuing Healthcare is a provision for nursing or care home fees, as well as care in hospitals, hospices, or in a patient’s own home, arranged and funded solely by the NHS.

NHS Continuing Healthcare packages can include, but are not limited to, any or all of the following:

  • Care home accommodation fees (whether the care home is classed as residential or with nursing).
  • Nursing care by a registered nurse.
  • Nursing care by someone who is not a registered nurse (e.g. a carer or care assistant at a nursing home).
  • Specialised medical treatment and / or the use of specialist medical equipment.
  • Palliative care.
  • Personal / social care, such as help with washing and feeding.
  • Respite health care.

In the various publications and websites about NHS Continuing Healthcare, you may see it referred to in any of the following terms (with or without the word “health” before the word “care”):

  • Continuing (health) care
  • NHS continuing (health) care
  • NHS-funded continuing (health) care
  • NHS fully-funded continuing (health) care

Unless the publication states that it is referring to continuing care in general, you can normally assume that it means “NHS Continuing Healthcare”.

Who Is Eligible for NHS-Funded Care?

Who Decides If You Are Eligible for Funded Care?

The Criteria Used to Determine If You Are Eligible

What You Can Do About An Unfair Assessment