After delays my mother was awarded CHC by the Hospital panel 2 weeks ago. I was told it would be reassessed after 3 or 6 months.
She’s just been moved to a Care Home whilst we wait for a Package of Care and now the Long Term Care team tell me they are reassessing CHC immediately before they’ll give the PoC.
Is this usual? If they try to remove it then it will mean there’s virtually no chance of my Mum coming home as there’s an enormous wait for PoC under ‘normal’ social services funding.
Any advice on how to ensure she doesn’t lose it??? Can I prevent the reassessment?
Hi @Davidge62
Unfortunately this isn’t unusual. When my Mum moved from hospital into a care home her needs were also re-assessed after a couple of weeks.
You can’t prevent the reassessment, but so long as you can prove (by virtue of your Mum’s condition(s) that she requires nursing care, she should continue to be eligible for CHC, but it is a battle you may have to fight hard for.
NHS will find any reason to discontinue CHC as soon as they possibly can. I found that reading up on my rights and their responsibilities and challenging them on any decisions I didn’t agree with was the best way to secure ongoing support. My best advice would be to read up and become your own expert (there is plenty of info on the net about CHC).
CHC is paid by the NHS, not the LA. CHC is free. L A care is means tested.
Do you or mum have a written copy of the original assessment?
To take it away, they must show her level of need has reduced in comparison to the first assessment.
Treat this as an exam project, and read the CHC Framework, Google will find it. Nursing home fees are around £1,000 for self funders. There’s a lot of money at stake here. If mum doesn’t own any property and has under £23,000 then whatever happens her care will be fully or partly funded.
Do you have Power of Attorney?
If not this would be a good time to bring together all her financial information.
As BB says, need must be shown to have reduced. However, the fact that additional support has gone in means that the assessment must look at whether the needs have actually reduced, or they’re being successfully managed.
Be careful that the assessors say needs are being managed so funds are no longer needed. They tried that tactic with my husband’s complex needs. He was back in hospital the next day so agreed he needed funds.