Preparing for the continuing healthcare assessment meeting
After a positive checklist, a team of professionals meets to complete the Decision Support Tool, which scores 12 areas of care. You should be invited, and you can bring someone to support you. Families say the meeting can take hours.
Before the meeting
- Get the records. Ask the care home or agency for the recent daily notes, incident and behaviour charts, falls logs, turning charts, food and fluid charts and medication records.
- Read the 12 areas. The national guidance describes each level. Decide, area by area, which level you believe the records show.
- Collect dated examples. One clear, dated incident is worth more than a general statement.
- Ask people who know the care. Care staff and nurses who see the needs every day can write down what they see.
- Try the score checker with the levels you expect.
At the meeting
- Ask how each level was decided, and which records were used.
- Where you disagree, give your evidence and ask for your view to be written into the form.
- Remember that well-managed needs are still needs, and that the team must consider the nature, intensity, complexity and unpredictability of the needs together.
- You do not have to agree on the day. You can ask for time to read the completed form.
After the meeting
The NHS area sends a decision letter. If it is a refusal, you can usually ask for a review within 6 months. See how to appeal, or join the waiting list for a free review.