News Articles

Callers to our helpline this week have told us that a Continuing Healthcare firm is claiming guaranteed success in CHC appeal casework. This is shamefully misleading and we urge people to think very carefully before proceeding with any firm that makes such claims, while asking for fees upfront. We understand some people will be very tempted by such guarantees because of the additional hardship caused by delays to CHC appeals during the COVID-19 emergency. However, we’ve been working in this area for nearly two decades, and can say with confidence that it is never possible to …read more

The impact of coronavirus on NHS Continuing Healthcare During this worrying and unprecedented time, all of us at Beacon are doing our utmost to carry on supporting, informing and advising our callers and clients as they go through the Continuing Healthcare system. The nature of COVID-19 (coronavirus) makes it particularly concerning for people already in poor health, and their families, who we work with everyday. The Coronavirus Act 2020 – emergency legislation that included measures to protect and support the NHS frontline – enacted significant changes to the way that new or enhanced care packages are …read more

It has been confirmed that people in England are entitled to six months to decide to appeal an eligibility decision for NHS Continuing Healthcare. The Department of Health and Social Care have today confirmed that this is the national guidance that every Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) should adhere to. The six-month timescale has been reinstated for the first stage of the appeal process (Local Resolution) and remains the case for the second stage (Independent Review). Department responds to challenge The update comes just a few months after the worrying news that CCGs were being allowed to …read more

Evolving Communities CIC in collaboration with Beacon have an exciting opportunity for individuals to improve the quality and accessibility of NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) information. We want to hear from you if you are an individual or their representative and have gone through the CHC assessment process (Checklist and/or full assessment). We’re interested in how you accessed information about CHC throughout the entire process. This work is being commissioned by NHS England (NHSE) and will help them develop a national CHC information resource. The project has two stages, an online survey and a series of focus …read more

In May, Beacon’s Dan Harbour was invited to appear on Radio 4’s personal finance phone-in, Money Box Live. Dan was answering listeners’ questions in an episode dedicated to NHS Continuing Healthcare. You can listen to the 30 minute programme via the BBC website, at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b39v3z About us Beacon CHC is a leading UK-wide social enterprise with profits donated to charity to fund vital older peoples’ services. Our specialist caseworkers provide a comprehensive and ethical advocacy and support service for individuals trying to navigate the maze of NHS CHC funding. We also run an independent helpline – funded by the NHS – …read more

If you registered a Power of Attorney between 1st April 2013 and 31st March 2017 you may have been asked by the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) to pay too much as an administration fee and be due a partial refund. The miscalculation of fees happened because the OPG became more efficient at processing the registrations but didn’t reduce the fee at the time – fees were only lowered from 1st April 2017. To check if you are due a refund take a look here: www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney-refund Or ring the Office of the Public Guardian on 0300 456 0300 …read more

NHS-funded Nursing Care (FNC) is the Department of Health’s contribution towards care homes’ costs for people who are in receipt of nursing care from a registered nurse. In 2016 we reported that the standard FNC rate was rising to £156.25 per week (from £112). We hoped that care homes would reflect this rate rise in their fees, passing on a welcome reduction in nursing costs to residents who may otherwise be funding some of the costs of this from their own pocket. However, we’ve been aware that this is frequently not the case, with murky explanations …read more

In January, following an inquiry to which we were invited to give expert evidence, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published their frank assessment of the state of the Continuing Healthcare (CHC) system. In it they highlighted five areas where the system is falling short: delays in assessments awareness of the funding the postcode lottery of eligibility inconsistent compliance to the national guidelines unclear savings targets Alongside each area, the PAC made recommendations for improvement – asking the Department of Health and NHS England to report back by April 2018 in most cases. Response from the Government The …read more

On Friday 2 March the Department of Health and Social Care published a revised National Framework for Continuing Healthcare (CHC) and NHS-funded Nursing Care. Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have until October 2018 to adopt the new rules. Dan Harbour, Managing Director of Beacon, and the national Information and Advice Service for NHS CHC, said: “CHC packages can make a life-or-death difference to people with serious, often long term, health problems. Poor adoption of best practice and patchy availability of funding has become endemic, and the Framework update is a golden opportunity for improvement. “We’re pleased to see …read more