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NHS Continuing Healthcare
The CHC Checklist Explained
What the screening tool is, what happens at the meeting, and what a positive result actually means
What is the CHC Checklist?
The CHC Checklist is a screening tool completed by a health or social care professional to decide whether a person needs a full NHS Continuing Healthcare assessment. A positive Checklist does not mean funding is awarded. It triggers the next stage: a full assessment in which a multidisciplinary team scores the person's needs using the Decision Support Tool.
Plain English
For families and professionals
England and Wales
National coverage
Registered professionals
Written and reviewed
The Checklist is the front door of the NHS Continuing Healthcare process, and it is often completed at speed, at hospital discharge or during a care review, with little warning for the family. Understanding what it screens for helps the person's needs be described accurately from the very first step. This guide describes the system in England. Wales operates its own Continuing NHS Healthcare framework through health boards.
When a Checklist happens
A Checklist is most often completed when:
- A hospital discharge is being planned and ongoing care is needed
- A care review suggests the person's needs may have a significant health component
- The family asks for NHS Continuing Healthcare to be considered
- The person's needs have clearly increased since they were last looked at
How to prepare
Before the Checklist meeting:
- Gather recent care records, care plans and any professional reports
- Write down what a typical day and a bad day actually involve
- List the professionals involved in the person's care
- Ask who is completing the Checklist, when, and how the family can contribute
- Ask for a copy of the completed Checklist and the outcome in writing
Where people often go wrong
- Assuming a positive Checklist means funding has been awarded
- Describing the person's best days rather than their real range of days
- Letting the Checklist happen without any family or carer input
- Not asking for a copy of the completed Checklist
- Treating a negative Checklist as final when needs later change
- Assuming a positive Checklist means funding has been awarded
- Describing the person's best days rather than their real range of days
- Letting the Checklist happen without any family or carer input
- Not asking for a copy of the completed Checklist
- Treating a negative Checklist as final when needs later change
What happens at the Checklist stage
A health or social care professional works through the Checklist domains and screens whether the person's needs are significant enough to justify a full assessment. The threshold at this stage is deliberately lower than the full assessment, because the Checklist exists to let people through to proper consideration, not to decide eligibility.
If the Checklist is positive, the case moves to a full assessment with the Decision Support Tool. If it is negative, the family should receive the outcome in writing, and a further Checklist can be sought if the person's needs change.
A social work led multidisciplinary practice
Nellie Supports is a social work led multidisciplinary specialist practice working across England and Wales, operating through a permanent, full-time employed team that has completed more than 11,000 assessments. Our NHS Continuing Healthcare work prepares and presents the evidence of need at every stage of the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a family ask for a Checklist?
Yes. Where there is reason to think the person's needs may have a significant health component, the family can ask for NHS Continuing Healthcare to be considered and a Checklist to be completed.
Does a negative Checklist end the process?
Not permanently. The outcome should be given in writing, and a further Checklist can be sought if the person's needs change or were not fully described the first time.
Should someone be with the person for the Checklist?
Wherever possible, yes. A family member or carer who knows the person's real day-to-day needs helps make sure the Checklist reflects them accurately.
This guide is general information about NHS Continuing Healthcare in England, not legal advice, and does not create a professional relationship. Nellie Supports provides independent social work assessment, evidence and advocacy support. We do not provide regulated legal advice, and where a legal remedy is needed we will say so and support your solicitor's work.