News Articles

The Department of Health and Social Care is undertaking research on NHS-Funded Nursing Care (FNC) to inform the 2022/23 rate and assess the impact of COVID-19 on FNC and associated costs in 2021/22. Nursing homes are invited to participate in the FNC Cost Collection Survey. You can start the survey at any time by opening the document and saving a new version with your contributions. Once completed, please follow the instructions in the document to email it to the Department. A Privacy Notice accompanies the survey, which you can find here. If you have any questions …read more

An analysis of calls to our helpline has raised concerns around screening practices for NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) eligibility during the pandemic. The usual way to determine if a patient should be assessed for CHC eligibility is through a screening process. The ONLY screening tool that is sanctioned by the Department of Health and Social Care is the CHC Checklist. However, we have heard from hundreds of families whose loved ones were denied a CHC assessment through unsanctioned screening methods. This practice could mean that some people are now paying thousands for care that they are …read more

The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has today announced an overhaul of the way that social care is funded in England. Unlike NHS Continuing Healthcare, social care funding is means tested, so the level at which councils contribute to care costs are based on the value of savings and assets held by an individual. The underlying details of the Government’s plan for social care are yet to be clarified, so we’re unsure how it will impact the Continuing Healthcare system. Based on what we know now, Beacon’s Managing Director, Dan Harbour, has said: “We welcome the fact …read more

A High Court Judge has refused permission for the judicial review of the Government and NHS England, over the NHS Continuing Healthcare system, to proceed. Retired Rear Admiral Philip Mathias launched a crowdfunding campaign in 2020, which has raised over £100,000 to date, to support the action. His legal team have begun preparations to appeal the decision. Dan Harbour, Managing Director of Beacon, said: “The amount of money pledged and the messages of support on the crowdfunding page reflect the strength of feeling of many people following their experiences of the CHC system. This news must come …read more

The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that the standard rate they will pay for NHS-funded Nursing Care (FNC) is to rise by 2% to £187.60 per week from 1 April 2021. FNC is the contribution paid by the NHS toward the costs of a place in a care home with nursing for eligible people assessed as needing the help of a registered nurse. Tens of thousands of people in the UK receive FNC. The higher rate of NHS-funded nursing care will also increase by 2% to £258.08 per week. This covers those who …read more

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) today released a report Continuing Healthcare: Getting it right first time based on their findings from Continuing Healthcare1 (CHC) cases brought to them and resolved in the last three years. In response to the report, Dan Harbour, Managing Director of Beacon CHC, said: “Over the past few years, we’ve heard from more and more families with loved ones whose Continuing Healthcare package is not sufficiently funded nor properly planned to meet their care needs. We welcome this report from the PHSO, which we hope will begin to turn the tide …read more

With the support of a professional legal team, retired Rear Admiral Philip Mathias is preparing to launch a judicial review of the Government and NHS England, over the Continuing Healthcare system. On his crowdfunding page he says: “I am now taking legal action against the Government and NHS England to expose the scandal [of CHC] and to hold them to account.” Rear Admiral Mathias’ actions follow his experiences of CHC, while seeking healthcare funding for his late mother. His campaign has attracted financial and moral support from people who’ve had similar experiences. Dan Harbour, Managing Director …read more

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