Has anyone successfully obtained CHC funding for a relative ?

[gunnersgold]

Thanks in advance

I’m currently going through this for my step-father. It’s an absolute nightmare!

Are you doing it yourself or using a solicitor ? How far are you into the process ? Thanks

There are organisations who can help you with your application beacon and compass are two I have heard of but not had any personal experience. The bar is high for chc funding for those with complex and unpredictable needs. Evidence is key.

My late Mil had heart failure, kidney failure, liver failure, diabetes, never walked
again after fracturing her pelvis. Was turned down because she was TOO ILL for the
assessment. We were informed that she could be assessed when she got better.
She was 93. Died 10 days later.

Thanks , I'm using compass , Mum is self funding and it's so expensive..

I think it's worth a try 🙏🙏

Mil was paying £4457.20 every 4 weeks.
I'm sure they will find any way not to pay for your loved one.

We tried for my mum and also appealed but were unsuccessful. I wish they’d be honest and say yes you fit the criteria but we don’t have the funds instead of what we got which felt like gaslighting (being told it’s a social care need not a health one is horrible when you know it’s not true). I wanted to keep trying but realised I couldn’t go through it emotionally only to keep losing and needed to concentrate on mum instead. I just hope when her money runs out she’ll still be able to remain in the same care home.

We were turned down initially but I appealed the decision and won. I did everything myself as was quoted £5k from a specialist firm and knew that we wouldn't get that money back whether we won the appeal or not.
It was a lot of work and very stressful but worth it for my own satisfaction as we were continually lied to and gas-lighted by the people involved.

Have you got a social worker? And/or district nurse?

I did, with the help of my relative’s nursing home. I didn’t need a lawyer. My relative had dementia with severe behavioural problems - apart from this she was very physically fit. It was the behavioural problems that meant CHC funding was applicable, it has very weird criteria.

No, we tried but it’s so difficult. This was during covid as well so there was no transparency in the process. The social worker said they almost always turn the first attempt down and to keep appealing if you believe you fulfil the criteria.
Instability is the key - not necessarily how ill you are. The social worker also said it’s become increasingly difficult to get CHC funding, even compared with a few years ago.

Get the framework and tailor your answers - use the DST

We did but I've always had a suspicion that the hospital pulled out all the stops to support us as my parent has fallen in their care while supposed to be on 24 hour watch & was injured which lead to their decline. I think they thought we might sue them & wanted to distract us. If I'd known what I know now (money from suing comes from the insurance companies not the NHS, except via premiums) I might have done.
They did come to reassess my parent after 3 months in the care home.

I kept asking for this for my Dad but no healthcare provider even acknowledged my requests. I asked every single time he bounced back in and out of hospital. He died without it in the end. I hope you get what you need. A solicitor sounds like a good idea.

Also, my stepmother who is in a care home with dementia has a mounting bill currently at £130k. Her children are dealing with this but as far as I know she is not getting CHC either. It seems impossible!

It's not impossible but the bar is extremely high. In my own experience the people involved actively tried to put us off in every way possible. I did tons of research and reading up, the information is readily available but not always easy to understand.
If you've got the time and the determination it's worth a shot. In my area approximately 50% of appeals are upheld.

I don't have a social
Worker but I have requested the assessment from 3 HCp' and all have served me so I decided to start with a solicitor ..I've just instructed compass . It's £5k but her care bill is £8k a month so I figured I'd use her money while I can 🤷‍♀️..

My Dh got it for his dm. It was very stressful and he had some big arguments in meetings. Including a social worker who kept spouting crap.

Great ! All this is good . She meets the criteria so fingers crossed ! 🙏

We got funding for my mum for care at home signed off two weeks ago but have not received a single care visit as no care agencies have picked it up. Unbelievable.

@Bobbybobbins care packages are incredibly hard to find atm. There are more people needing care than there are agencies who can take them on/meet their needs

Applied on a relative’s behalf. Was turned down the first time.

Was told (informally) by one of the assessors that relative didn’t meet the standard on two counts:
a) insufficient evidence of relative’s MEDICAL needs.
b) their condition was stable.

Foolishly (it appears) rather than ‘bothering’ the doctors, we had made the mistake of nursing relative ourselves through their many relapses.

So from then on, every time my relative so much as sneezed, we contacted their doctor, consultant, physiotherapist, dietician, district nurse as appropriate. And took them regularly to A&E.

Got it a year later.

Yes, but I think it was part of an “oh shit, don’t sue us” deal. Dad was in an NHS rehab centre after a series of amputations & vascular surgeries, they didn’t investigate his other necrotising foot that he was struggling to walk on (which we’d pointed out at his 2 week full team meeting arranging his discharge) until the day before discharge and lo! He’d lost the pulse in his other foot (cue another 2 month hospital admission, vascular surgeries, amputations, an almost repeat of his previous admission).

When that saga was over & he was transferred to his local authority care team, on the first night after his 2nd rehab stint, his carer said she couldn’t open his door so couldn’t perform his night care, so he stood up to go to the loo & collapsed. A carer found him soaked in urine on the floor the next morning with injuries so it was back into hospital.

Luckily, his retirement complex had CCTV, so in the following investigation it was proved the carer who couldn’t open the door had lied & never attempted to visit that night.

In another “oh shit, don’t sue us” move, that local authority who managed the care company involved paid 3/4 of his care home fees for the 6 years he was in a nursing home, and paid for his transfer 400 miles to the home we chose that was nearer us.

We honestly think that without these monumental fuck ups he would never have qualified for CHC funding.

DM had a degenerative neurological condition, with round the clock live in care at home. She was so severely disabled that she could not manage any of her own needs - could not speak or communicate or even move a finger. She was fed through her abdomen. We applied for CHC three times, and were repeatedly told that the care she was receiving was ‘social’ not ‘medical’ because she ‘wasn’t complex enough’. This was despite her very clearly meeting the criteria at the first application. Meeting the criteria is not enough.

The final application we made was three months before she died, and we had been waiting on the decision when she died. When CHC discovered she had died, they agreed to retrospectively approve her funding for that three month period - we are waiting for a payment back of £40k.

DF had had terminal cancer, and had cut back financially as far as he possibly could - including on his own food - to pay care bills. All their savings had gone, and he was releasing the equity from their house when DM died.

I don’t know how the people who do CHC assessments/make decisions sleep at night. DM was unbelievably vulnerable and disabled, and met the criteria and beyond from the start - as CHC agreed - but this was not enough. Appalling.

If your relative is in a nursing home q let of the assessment will depend on their notekeeping.
CHC is extremely difficult to get as the person really does need to have significantly complex needs. It may seem unfair but the system has to be equitable for all.
Have you been declined, is that why you engaged a firm to help? I've known families engage a firm, be accepted anyway and still have to pay a 5k bill, seems crazy to me.