NHS Continuing Healthcare and Ms

Hi there,

Has anyone got NHS Continuing Healthcare for MS…Nobody speaks much about it.

I am aware of one person who receives NHS continuing care for MS and she is very sick indeed. NHS continuing care is one of the things the government are trying to back away from just like many other payments to sick people in general.
However it is something legal available if you meet the criteria so probably a first step would be to ask for an assessment via your GP and then if you think you have been unfairly treated you could try a specialist solicitor or citizen’s advice to see if there are grounds for appeal.
You have to demonstrate your care needs are primarily medical care not social care. If you can do that then all care is funded by the NHS including care home costs if appropriate.

I am aware of one person who receives NHS continuing care for MS and she is very sick indeed. NHS continuing care is one of the things the government are trying to back away from just like many other payments to sick people in general.
However it is something legal available if you meet the criteria so probably a first step would be to ask for an assessment via your GP and then if you think you have been unfairly treated you could try a specialist solicitor or citizen’s advice to see if there are grounds for appeal.
You have to demonstrate your care needs are primarily medical care not social care. If you can do that then all care is funded by the NHS including care home costs if appropriate.

Hi, this is the third time I am trying to post this, battery went flat, Internet went off aghhh so the text gets smaller and smaller. I am a social worker and have experience of the NHS continuing care document. It is based on presenting needs, complexity, intensity of those needs rather than a diagnosis. Ie because someone has MS, cancer, Parkinson’s etc does not entitle them to the funding. The first step is a NHS Checklist which can be completed by a health professional, district nurse for example. It should be done in hospital also. This checklist is shared and completed with yourself. If the checklist ticks the correct amount of boxes the assessment moves to the NHS continuing care assessment. This generally is the real assessment. Yourself and others will be involved and will write down evidence under heading such as behaviour, cognition, skin integrity, medication, mobility etc can’t remember them all. There are 11. Using this evidence it will be cross referenced to a range of statements from no needs to high/severe needs. A mark will be put next to the statement that begs fits the evidence provided. If there are any differences of opinion these will be noted in the assessment. At this meeting a recommendation will be made and then the assessment once typed up will go to a panel made up of social cafe and NHS. They will decide on the agreement of funding and this may be, free nursing care, joint funding eg 50/50, 80/20 etc or fully funded. You will get a letter confirming the agreement and will be informed of the appeal process. I am aware of several people with MS who have benefited from the assessment and funding arrangement. Yvette x

Would this be subject to a means test does anyone know?

NHS Continuing care is not means tested.

Thank you all for your replies.

It all depends on the outcome. For example, if you got free nursing care entitlement this would give you just short of £110 per week towards your care in a care home. The other money towards care would be means tested as this is the bit that social care fund when someone goes into a nursing home. A financial assessment would be required. If you got joint funding say 50/50 between health and social care you would be financially assessed for the 50%. It is only when you get fully funded care through the NHS that social care would not be looking at an assessment to see what contribution you should make towards the care. Yvette x