NHS Continuing Healthcare
Fast Track NHS Continuing Healthcare: Review Advocacy for End of Life Needs
Advocacy and attendance at Fast Track reviews, for families and the professionals supporting them
The Fast Track pathway provides urgent NHS Continuing Healthcare funding where a person has a rapidly deteriorating condition that may be entering a terminal phase. An appropriate clinician completes the Fast Track Pathway Tool; Nellie Supports does not complete the tool itself. Our role is advocacy and attendance at Fast Track reviews: preparing the evidence, briefing the family and representing the person's needs, so decisions about urgent funding are made on the complete picture. The fixed fee is £1,750 plus VAT.
£1,750
Fixed fee, plus VAT, stated before instruction
One working day
Enquiry triage response
England
Wales runs a separate Continuing NHS Healthcare framework
Social work led
Registered social workers, peer reviewed
Nellie Supports is England and Wales' largest identified specialist private social work and mental capacity assessment practice, operating through a permanent, full-time employed team that has completed more than 11,000 assessments. Our Fast Track NHS Continuing Healthcare facilitation is social work led: we prepare and present the evidence of need. We are not a law firm and not a claims company.
When the Fast Track pathway applies
The Fast Track pathway exists for people whose condition is deteriorating rapidly and who may be entering a terminal phase. It replaces the Checklist and full assessment route so that funding and a care package can be put in place urgently.
The Fast Track Pathway Tool is completed by an appropriate clinician; we do not complete the tool itself. Our role is advocacy: preparing the evidence, briefing the family and attending the review, so decisions about urgent funding continuing are made on the complete picture of the person's needs.
How the Fast Track pathway works
Fast Track sits within the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care, 2022 revision, as the urgent route to funding.
Because the tool is clinician led, the family's role is to make sure the clinical picture and the evidence reach the right hands quickly. Our role is to make that happen.
A rapidly deteriorating condition
May be entering a terminal phase
Tool completed by an appropriate clinician
Actioned urgently by the Integrated Care Board
Framework: National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care (2022 revision); Fast Track Pathway Tool
For more, read our guide: Fast Track CHC explained
Our support process
Prioritised enquiry routing
Fast Track enquiries are prioritised in our triage. Tell us what is happening and who is involved.
Clinician coordination
We help identify and brief the appropriate clinician who completes the Fast Track Pathway Tool.
Evidence and submission support
We assemble and organise the supporting evidence so the tool can be actioned without avoidable delay.
Follow-through
We stay with the family and the referrer until the funding decision and the care package are confirmed.
What we do
Fast Track facilitation is coordination work, done at pace:
Coordination with the appropriate clinician
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Supporting evidence assembled and organised
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Liaison with the Integrated Care Board's Fast Track route
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A clear record of what was submitted and when
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Fees
£1,750 plus VAT
Fast Track review advocacy and attendance £1,750 plus VAT. We do not complete the Fast Track Pathway Tool itself. Travel for in-person attendance is confirmed in writing before booking.
Travel for in-person attendance is confirmed in writing before booking.
How Fast Track support works in practice
A care home manager rang us on a Thursday about a resident who had deteriorated sharply that week. The family had been told about Fast Track, but nobody was clear who should complete the Fast Track Pathway Tool, and the ward, the GP and the community team were each waiting for one of the others.
That is what Fast Track delay usually is: not refusal, but nobody holding the thread. We took the coordination on. We identified the appropriate clinician, made sure they had the clinical picture in front of them, assembled the supporting evidence and kept the submission moving to the Integrated Care Board's urgent route.
The family did not have to chase anyone. They were with him instead.
This is an illustrative example. It does not describe any individual client.
Why professionals refer Fast Track cases to Nellie Supports
No commercial pressure at end of life
This is a service path, not a marketing funnel. No urgency mechanics, no upselling, ever.
Built for referrers
Care home managers, social workers, solicitors, deputies and care-funding advisers refer because the coordination gets done.
Social work led
A registered professional coordinates the evidence and the people, calmly and quickly.
Priced to serve
A single fixed fee, VAT included, set to serve the relationship rather than to profit from a crisis.
Frequently Asked Questions About Fast Track CHC
What is Fast Track CHC?
Fast Track is the urgent route to NHS Continuing Healthcare funding for a person with a rapidly deteriorating condition that may be entering a terminal phase. It replaces the Checklist and full assessment route so that funding and care can be put in place quickly, and the National Framework expects Fast Track decisions to be actioned urgently.
Who completes the Fast Track Pathway Tool?
An appropriate clinician completes the Fast Track Pathway Tool, typically a doctor or senior nurse involved in the person's care. Our role is to make sure the right clinician has the right evidence quickly, that the tool is supported by a clear picture of the person's condition, and that the submission keeps moving rather than sitting in a queue.
Do you charge families at end of life?
The facilitation fee is designed for professional referral relationships rather than for families. Families in this situation should contact us in any event; we will help you find the right route without commercial pressure, whether that is supporting the clinicians already involved, pointing you to the right NHS contact, or explaining what should be happening and when.
Is Fast Track funding permanent?
No. Eligibility under NHS Continuing Healthcare is kept under review and can change if the person's needs change. Fast Track funding is sometimes reviewed once the person's condition stabilises, and a standard assessment may follow. We explain what that means for your situation when we speak, so the family is not caught out by a later review.
Related NHS Continuing Healthcare guides
Fast Track CHC explained
The NHS Continuing Healthcare process explained
Other CHC support stages
If your situation is at a different stage, our team supports the full NHS Continuing Healthcare pathway.
CHC Assessment Support
CHC Appeal Support
Retrospective CHC Claims
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.
Need urgent help now?
Contact Nellie Supports and tell us what is happening. Fast Track enquiries are prioritised in our triage.
We aim to respond to all enquiries the same working day.
Written by Ben Slater, Founder and Managing Director, Nellie Supports. Read our editorial policy.