Assessment process of the NHS continuing care

The decision for the stay of your loved homes in the nursing home is difficult. It is an touching situation where people get emotional; and also the finance is a major issue. Paying for care homes is not so easy; it requires a lot of time and effort to manage the fees.

How peaceful your mind will be if you do not have to worry about paying for care home fees! Oh yes, it is possible with the help of the NHS continuing care, an organisation that provides free health services to the patients suffering from mental illness or physical disability.

However, everyone is not straight away eligible for the NHS services. One has to undergo through an assessment carried out by the Primary Care Trust (PCT). On the basis of the results of both the assessments; the preliminary one and the decision support tool one, they will decide if you have qualified to receive the free NHS continuous care or not.

The preliminary NHS continuing Health Care checklist and the decision support tool has got 12 factors which they take into the consideration for the assessment. They rate all the 12 domains as any of these:

• Low (L)
• Moderate (M)
• High (H)
• Severe (S)

The few of these factors are also rated as:

• Priority (P)

Let us have a look at the list of these domains:

• Behaviour
• Cognition
• Breathing
• Drug therapies and medication: Symptom control
• Altered states of consciousness
• Communication
• Continence
• Psychological and emotional needs
• Mobility
• Nutrition: Food and Drink
• Skin and tissue liability
• Other significant care needs

Out of the above listed factors, all of them can be rated as L, M, H or S and the first five can be rated ‘P’ as well. On the basis of these results, they check if the patient meets the standards, exceeds them or do not meet the standards at all.