Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of waiting times for accessing services through the NHS Continuing healthcare programme on patient outcomes; what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Liaison Care on those waiting times; and what further steps his Department is taking to improve waiting times for the NHS Continuing healthcare programme.

Statutory guidance and assurance regimes are in place so that people are assessed and receive care in a timely way. For example, NHS England’s assurance standard requires that integrated care boards (ICBs) must ensure that more than 80% of cases proceed to a full assessment of eligibility, and that the eligibility decision should be made within 28 days of being notified of potential NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) eligibility. Nationally, 72% of referrals were completed within 28 days during July to September 2024.

Once an individual has been referred for a full assessment of NHS CHC eligibility, the ICB is responsible for coordinating the process until the eligibility decision has been made. The ICB should identify a coordinator who may be either from the ICB or an external organisation. An individual should not be left without appropriate support while they await the outcome of the assessment and decision-making process.