NHS continuing healthcare in Gateshead and Newcastle

Healthwatch Gateshead and Healthwatch Newcastle have gathered views and experiences from people and their carers who have been through the NHS continuing healthcare (CHC) process, and from representatives of voluntary and community sector organisations.

To achieve this, they worked with partners in NHS Newcastle Gateshead Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Newcastle and Gateshead councils, as well as with service users and their carers, and the voluntary and community sector. They also asked people to complete a survey to give direct feedback on their experiences.

The survey was conducted over a three-month period from October to December 2017. There were 40 responses to the survey, which equates to approximately 11% of the people who went through a full assessment in 2016—17.

Overall, people found the process complicated and that it lacked information to help them through the process. In some cases, expectations were unfairly raised about the possibility of receiving CHC funding. In general, people did not understand the financial implications of CHC funding. There were also issues around lack of consistency in how the CHC framework was being interpreted by nursing assessors. Furthermore, there appears to be significant variation across Newcastle and Gateshead around the hospital discharge process for people waiting for a CHC funding decision. Although this work looked at the adult CHC process, we also discovered that children and young people were not being referred for assessments within the recommended timescales.

The report makes recommendations in the following areas: Information, quality assurance of CHC assessments, getting regular feedback from patients and their carers, children in transition into adult services.