FOI Ref: 0183FOI1920
14th January 2020
Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Request for Information
We are pleased to respond to your request for information and our response is set out below:
Request/ Response
Please find below FOI Request NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) NHS Sheffield CCG
One of the key objectives of the NHS Continuing Healthcare process is to establish whether a person’s care is the legal responsibility of the NHS or the local authority to fund.
In establishing eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare, a CCG must apply the Primary Health Needs Test, (Coughlan Case Law).
1. How does NHS Sheffield CCG establish whether a person's needs are within/outside local authority legal limits; i.e. merely incidental or ancillary to the provision of the accommodation which a local authority is under a duty to provide and of a nature which it can be expected that an authority whose primary responsibility is to provide social services, can be expected to provide?
The CCG work within the National Framework for Continuing Health care and Funded Nursing Care. All individuals referred via a check list or via a Health hospital discharge pathway have a Decision Support Tool (DST) completed by a Multi-disciplinary Team (MDT). The MDT use the assessment of needs for an individual to complete the DST and apply the Primary Health need test, are the individuals needs over and above that which can be delivered by the Local Authority and their need for accommodation. The 4 Key Characteristics are also considered to identify if the individual has a primary health need or not.
2. Is there one standard/benchmark applied to all CHC assessments, to establish eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare? If so, please provide details and copies of relevant documents,
The CHC team follow the jointly agreed Operational Procedure that is based on the National Framework please see link – https://www.sheffieldccg.nhs.uk/Downloads/Your%20health/CHC%202019/CHC% 20Operating%20Procedure%20%20-%20Final%20version%2015-05-19.pdf.
OR 3. Is each case considered individually, on a case-by-case basis, according to each individual's particular needs? If so, please provide details and copies of relevant documents.
The DST and Operational Procedure is available on the CCG website (https://www.sheffieldccg.nhs.uk/Your-Health/continuing-healthcare.htm), all cases considered on an individual basis as per the MDT recommendation.
Headquarters
722 Prince of Wales Road
Sheffield
S9 4EU