NHS Continuing Healthcare and your LPA
Guidance from Estate Advisory Group
If care needs are primarily health needs, the NHS may pay for all of it. Attorneys are the ones who usually have to ask.
How the process runs
- Ask the GP, hospital discharge team or social worker for a CHC checklist.
- If the checklist screens in, a multidisciplinary team completes the Decision Support Tool.
- The integrated care board decides eligibility, in principle within 28 days.
- If refused, request the written rationale and use the local resolution then independent review process.
What attorneys should do
- Attend the DST meeting — a health and welfare attorney is the donor's representative.
- Send the LPA in advance and ask for all correspondence to come to you.
- Keep a daily needs diary: nights, falls, medication, behaviour, skin, nutrition.
- Challenge domains where the evidence in the record is thinner than the reality.
Why it matters financially
CHC is not means-tested
Where the donor is eligible, the NHS funds the whole package, including a care home placement. That is why it is worth pursuing before selling the donor's house. See LPA and care home fees.
Common questions
Can a financial-only attorney take part?
You can supply financial information and should be consulted, but the welfare attorney represents the donor's care interests.
Is Funded Nursing Care the same thing?
No. FNC is a smaller contribution towards nursing costs where CHC is not awarded.
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This is general information about how Lasting Powers of Attorney work in England and Wales. It is not legal advice about your situation. What we do and do not do.
Published by Estate Advisory Group