Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in England who received NHS continuing healthcare through the fast-track route in (a) 2012 and (b) 2013; what plans he has to gather more comprehensive data on the use of NHS continuing healthcare; and if he will make a statement.

The principles and processes for assessment of Fast-Track eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare are set out in the ‘National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care’.

Whilst the Department has not undertaken a specific assessment of the effectiveness of the Fast Track Tool for NHS Continuing Healthcare we have recently worked closely with NHS England and other key stakeholders in developing an Assurance Framework. The aim of the Assurance Framework is to ensure compliance with the National Framework and was launched in draft earlier this year. Further work is being undertaken to refine this prior to final publication.

The Department does not collect data regarding the number of people who have been assessed as eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare (NHS CHC) via use of the Fast Track tool.

Since 1 April 2013 data on the number of people who are eligible for NHS CHC has been published quarterly at:

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/article/2021/Website-Search?q=continuing+healthcare&go=Go&area=both