Posted on: 16 September 2024
Some people with long-term complex health needs qualify for free health and social care arranged and funded solely by the NHS. This is known as NHS continuing healthcare.
Integrated care boards, known as ICBs (the NHS organisations that commission local health services), assess people for NHS continuing healthcare if it seems individuals may need it.
For most people, there's an initial checklist assessment, which is used to decide if you need a full assessment. However, if you people need care urgently – for example, if they are terminally ill – their assessment may be fast-tracked.
In West Yorkshire, the commissioning process is different in some places and as part of our commitment to reduce unwarranted variation in how services are commissioned and provided, we are working towards one West Yorkshire wide Continuing Healthcare Policy that will enable our five places (Bradford District and Craven, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield) to manage the Continuing Healthcare (CHC) ‘offer’ more consistently and transparently. Although each of the five places are operating under this policy for all newly eligible fully funded CHC packages of care, it has not been agreed formally at a West Yorkshire level and therefore, those places where a similar policy was not already formally agreed are unable to apply the policy at review of CHC packages.
NHS West Yorkshire ICB has a statutory duty to involve people in decision making, policy and service development or change. The duty makes sure that anyone who would be impacted by the decision, service or policy has the opportunity to influence, or be a part of it. This duty is not limited to those who have experience of care, or experience of caring but also includes organisations, that may have a vested interest, or would be affected too.
Using insight, feedback and intelligence from each of our five places that make up West Yorkshire, we have developed a set of principles and an initial policy which is in the latter stages of development. A copy of the draft policy is available here.
At the point of adoption of a common West Yorkshire policy, the impact will not be equal across each of our five places. The principles included in the draft West Yorkshire Policy have been in use for both the initial package of care development and review of CHC packages in Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield for a significant amount of time, and will not result in a change for the populations of these places. Therefore, we will not engage fully with those in direct receipt of NHS Continuing Healthcare services, or indeed their families and carers in these locations as there is no change to how their care is reviewed. That said, the engagement exercise we will undertake is open to everyone in West Yorkshire, so people are welcome to share their feedback, regardless whether the new policy affects them or not.
For Bradford District and Craven and Leeds the new policy will be applied at review to CHC packages and these places will be encouraged to share their views as part of the engagement exercise.
Where are we at now and who we really want to hear from
The draft refreshed policy is now available and a short survey has been developed for everyone in Bradford District and Craven and Leeds who currently benefit from CHC services, providing them with an opportunity to comment on the refreshed policy – although families, carers and those in receipt of CHC funded services are more than welcome to share their views as well. The survey will be open for four weeks and is available here.
A set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are available and we will keep adding to these if we receive any additional questions over the engagement period.
Direct engagement with individuals who will be particularly impacted by the new policy, particularly those individuals, families and carers in Bradford District and Craven and Leeds will start in November. This will be done in a targeted way to reflect the views of community and campaign groups, as well as many of our quieter voices across West Yorkshire.
What will happen after the engagement period
Prior to the policy being operationalised across West Yorkshire, we will use every piece of feedback we receive during the time we engage with our people and communities across West Yorkshire, particularly those in Bradford District and Craven and Leeds. We will also use previous feedback, intelligence, insight, complaint feedback and PALS information to inform the final policy.
Our final policy, informed by our people and communities across West Yorkshire will be published on our website, along with core groups we engage with during the engagement period.