NHS Continuing Healthcare can feel like an overwhelming process. People can feel as though their futures largely depend on it, and may be worried about what it will mean financially if they don’t receive fully funded care. It’s therefore important to know each step in the NHS Continuing Healthcare process. if you’re prepared you can maximise your chances of success, and feel more at ease over what may lie ahead. The first stage of NHS Continuing Healthcare is the completion of the ‘Checklist tool.’
What is the Checklist stage?
The Checklist stage is really the start of the NHS Continuing Healthcare process. This is a tool designed to decide upon who should be ‘screened in’ for consideration for full NHS Continuing Healthcare funding to pay for care.
This tool does not decide if someone is definitively eligible and should receive NHS Continuing Healthcare funding. It simply determines who goes on to the next stage of the process, which is when people will receive a full assessment of their primary health needs.
Mistakes still happen even at this early stage.
The checklist may be the first stage, and it may not fully determine eligibility, but mistakes can still happen meaning that people are wrongly being rejected from the next stage of the process and deemed ineligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding.
Common mistakes are: ranking a person’s primary health need too low or wrongly categorising the primary health need. People may also be told that they don’t warrant a Checklist assessment when anybody has the right to request one. They may even be kept out of the room when the Checklist takes place but the individual has the right to be involved at every stage. A lot of Checklist tools are completed without the person’s knowledge and some clients have been told that they have ‘too much money’ which is totally irrelevant to this non-financially means tested process.
Why the process should be challenged.
If people are wrongly deemed ineligible then they could incur significant costs while they complain about the decision. It is therefore best to maximise your chances of success by ensuring that the process is conducted in the right way, with maximum transparency and that at each stage, the primary health need(s) is listed correctly. NHS Continuing Healthcare can be an immensely complex process to navigate and mistakes can happen at each stage which can severely impact the chances of being found eligible for full care funding.
This is why having representation can make a difference, and ensure that you have the best possible chance of success throughout the NHS Continuing Healthcare application process. Just Caring Legal specialises in NHS Continuing Healthcare, and knows well the pitfalls that people can fall into when they try to navigate the process alone. Rosalind can help guide you through the process, and advocate for your rights so that you have a greater chance of accessing the funding that you may be entitled to.
Contact Just Caring Legal today for your free consultation about your situation and discuss what chances you have of being granted NHS Continuing Healthcare funding. Call us now on 0191 556 1078 or email us at [email protected]