Continuing Healthcare Assessments

Our CHC Assessment service supports local authorities, health providers and commissioning groups to make a positive, lasting impact on people and communities nationwide. We have the largest pool of health and care professionals across the UK and Europe –we place 21,000 qualified health and social care professionals a week in some of the most challenging environments in the UK and worldwide. Our management team has over 50 years’ experience in the health and social care market, delivering flexible, value-for-money services and sustainable change.

What we do

Health systems have undoubtedly experienced a step-change in delivering services during the pandemic and CHC services are no different. With an estimated 5,000 per-month backlog nationally (and growing), whilst central funding has helped stem the demand for qualified nurse assessors to carry out this transaction in complex health settings, the Phase 3 response letter outlines the need to reinstate these critical services for those in need and work to reduce or eliminate this backlog by March 2021.

Whilst CHC services are led via CCGs, partnership working with a number of professionals from different organisations to co-ordinate an effective CHC assessment is key.

As a market leading provider in community healthcare services, our assessment service is designed to assist CCGs and local authorities with all aspects of the eligibility and assessment process for continuing healthcare and funded nursing care patients.

Working as a trusted partner, we’ll work with clients to assess their current challenges such as:

  • CHC transition arrangements for current hospital discharges under COVID-19
  • Existing CHC backlogs pre-COVID
  • Reintroducing CHC/FNC assessments for new hospital discharges and those in the community or in residential and nursing care
  • Ensuring that the system remains stable at this critical time

as well as:

  • Clearing outstanding and overdue eligibility assessments
  • CHC assessment reviews
  • Independent assessments
  • Interim staffing for CHC teams
  • Cost saving/efficiency programmes
  • Auditing and training programmes

Our goal is to ultimately use our services for our partners’ benefit, in order to reduce risk in the following areas:

  • Rise in assessment backlogs, pre, during and post-COVID
  • CG risk of failing to meet statutory duties including breaching timescales, lack of access to CHC “top-up” fees and funding linked to meeting timescales, potential claims of clinical negligence and rise of claims from organisations supporting individuals to make claims for CHC
  • Duplication and errors as 1 in 5 Local Resolution Requests result in eligibility begin met following original decision

Our added value

We offer integrated Continuing Healthcare services.

Using Xyla Assessment Services, a multi-disciplinary team can be engaged around the person at short notice within any health and care system.

By engaging both social workers and nurse assessors and by utilising specialisms across mental health, learning disabilities, long-term conditions and reablement, our teams can provide:

  • Social worker or nurse-led CHC Checklist / Decision Support Tool
  • Full CHC eligibility assessment (standard and fast-track)
  • Engagement with professionals with experience of the person, their current care needs and provision
  • Senior level Occupational Therapy, Physio, Mental Health Psychologists and RMNs, resource to input to the MDT
  • Completion of MDT meetings with relevant professionals, the person, their carers; and families
  • Recommendation for on-going provision and funding decision

Quality that you can rely on

Our rigorous recruitment and screening processes ensure our assessment teams are built from the very best candidates, available within their specialist clinical areas. We require each of our CHC Nurse Assessors to have at least six months substantive, direct experience of CHC and FNC assessments for their clinical area within the last three years.

Due to the specialist backgrounds and skills of our nurse assessors, we’re able to deploy teams who can hit the ground running and work autonomously due to their comprehensive knowledge of the guidance and frameworks in place. This is further supported by the bespoke learning and development processes we have for both internal nurse assessors and our partner organisation’s in-house staff.

Invested in delivering you cost savings

We are currently involved in a number of cost-saving programmes centred on the eligibility and assessment process. We’re working with CCGs to provide solutions for issues effecting the CHC element of quality premium payments based on the CHC and FNC guidance. One of our most recent projects has offered a return on investment of 720%.