Some people with long-term complex health needs may qualify for free health and social care arranged and funded by the NHS. The three different funding options which are available are NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC), NHS Intermediate Care, and NHS Nursing Care. In this article, we explain the three types of care funding and how to access them.
Age Space's NHS Continuing Healthcare Eligibility Checker
NHS Continuing Healthcare
NHS Continuing Healthcare, or CHC, is care arranged by the NHS. It is free of charge and is provided at either a home, care home, or hospice, when someone requires continual care due to significant “primary health care needs.”
If CHC is provided at home, it covers personal care and healthcare costs. It may also include support for carers.
If someone in a care home is eligible for CHC, this will cover all care home fees, including cost of accommodation, personal care, and healthcare.
It is advisable to seek specialist advice before beginning the application process.
Applying for NHS Continuing Healthcare
To apply, your parent must have a “primary health need,” or a complex medical condition and ongoing care needs. Not everyone with a long-term condition or disability is eligible for funding.
It’s best to speak to your loved one’s GP, hospital discharge team, or social worker to arrange for them to have a CHC assessment.
The qualifying criteria for CHC are “needs based.”
The assessment for NHS Continuing Health Care
During the first stage of the assessment, there will be a “checklist assessment”. This is an initial assessment to determine if your parent meets the criteria needed to receive free healthcare.
This will be carried out by a nurse, a doctor, a healthcare professional, or a social worker. If the criteria for CHC are met, you will be moved on to the second stage of the assessment. The full assessment will take place during the second stage.
This is where the NHS decides whether or not you are eligible for funding. It will be undertaken by a Multi-Disciplinary Team, made up of health and social care professionals already involved in your parent’s care.
They use the Decision Support Tool (DST), which has been developed to support practitioners in the application of the National Framework, to determine if your parent is eligible for CHC. The DST covers areas including mobility, nutrition, continence, breathing, and skin.
For each of the issues a decision is made about the level of need – priority, severe, high, moderate, or low. If your parent has at least one priority need, or severe needs in at least two areas, they should be able to receive CHC.
Challenging the decision
Always request a copy of the DST if it isn’t sent automatically. You’re entitled to it, and without it, you won’t know how the decision was reached.
If you are denied funding after an appeal
In cases where the ICB still denies funding, but you still believe that your parent qualifies, you should contact the NHS to request an Independent Review Panel hearing.
This “Independent Review” should take place within three months. If there are reasons why this timescale cannot be met, you will be notified. The decision from the Independent Review Panel will be made within six months of their review.
If you are still unhappy with the decision, you have twelve months to contact Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman for help with making complaints.
If you are dealing with a deteriorating condition
If your parent’s condition is deteriorating fast and their need for care and funding rises, they should be assessed under the CHC Fast Track, to put in place a care package as soon as possible. Government guidance says that care should be put in place within 48 hours of someone being found eligible under Fast Track.
Should your parent not qualify for full CHC, but have been assessed as requiring care or nursing needs, there are other healthcare packages available on the NHS.
For a parent being cared for in their own home, this could be part of a joint package of care, with some services coming from the NHS and some from social services.
Alternatively, if they move into a nursing home, the NHS may contribute funds towards their nursing care costs.
NHS Intermediate Care
Intermediate care is another form of NHS funded care. It includes free care at home for six weeks following a stay in hospital, or for care to continue in the home when there is a breakdown in care services (for example, a caring partner has been taken into hospital).
You can expect a hospital discharge care plan to be drawn up before your parent returns home from hospital. If your parent needs care at home, contact their local social services department, and make sure you let the department know that it is an emergency.
There is more information on the NHS website regarding intermediate care available after discharge from hospital.
NHS Funded Nursing Care
This nursing care is provided by a registered nurse. It is for those living in a care home which has been registered to provide nursing care.
To be eligible for NHS funded nursing care, the person living in a care home must not qualify for NHS continuing healthcare but has been assessed as needing ongoing care.
This registered nursing care contribution is a tax-free, non-means tested benefit, paid by the NHS to cover nursing needs or medical care. It’s paid whether the care is self-financed or funded by the local authority or trust.
It is paid directly to the care home to reimburse them for the nursing care that is being provided. If you are self-funding all your own care, then your payments will be reduced by the Nursing Care Contribution amount.
If the care fees are part-funded, you might also get a reduction through the Contribution. It should also be paid if your parent’s stay in the care home is temporary, and if the stay is for six weeks or less, then there is no need for a formal assessment. This is particularly useful for periods of respite care.
You can ask for an assessment for Nursing Care Contribution at the same time as the Local Authority undertakes a needs assessment; or you can contact them afterwards and ask for a separate assessment.
Other NHS services available in care homes include continence aids and specialist/support or services such as chiropody, physiotherapy, pressure relief mattresses and mobility or communications aids.
FAQs on NHS Continuing Health Care
Will my loved one be eligible for NHS continuing healthcare funding?
To receive NHS continuing healthcare, the person must be assessed as having a “primary health need.” Diagnosis of a condition does not always mean that the person qualifies for this NHS funding, as the assessment will take into consideration the severity of the condition. jointly or not.
Who decides whether my parent qualifies for NHS continuing healthcare?
Your local Integrated Care Board (ICB), made up of local GPs, determines whether the patients they assess qualify for this NHS funding to help with their care.
Is this type of funding only for the very elderly?
This funding is for any stage of adult life; it’s not just for an elderly person requiring care.
If my parents do qualify for NHS continuing healthcare funding, will we still have to pay towards their health and personal care as they have savings?
This healthcare funding is purely “needs based” not “means tested”, and it is not capped, so your savings are safe and should not be used to pay for their health and personal care.
What to do next
There is an episode of the Age Space Podcast that covers all aspects of the NHS funding available to those receiving care.
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NHS, Planning to leave hospital, April 2026.
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Care to be Different, Navigating the Maze of NHS Continuing Healthcare: A Practical Guide for Families, November 2025.
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NHS, NHS continuing healthcare, April 2024.
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GOV.UK, National framework for NHS continuing healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care, July 2023.
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Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, How we can help with complaints about continuing healthcare funding, n.d.
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GOV.UK, NHS Continuing Healthcare Needs Checklist, n.d.
