NHS Continuing HealthcareBirmingham and Solihull
NHS Continuing Healthcare in Birmingham and Solihull
Continuing Healthcare is decided by the NHS, not the council. For Birmingham and Solihull, the decision is made by NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board. At 30 June 2026, 30.8 in every 50,000 adults registered with a GP here were eligible for standard Continuing Healthcare, close to the England figure of 33.1.
Below: how this area compares, how quickly it decides, who to contact here, and what to do if the answer is no.
Eligible for standard CHC, per 50,000 adults
At 30 June 2026
- Birmingham and Solihull
- 30.8
- Midlands region
- 32.0
- England
- 33.1
A count of people receiving it, not anyone's chance of getting it. NHS England figures, published as management information.
How this area compares
How many people get CHC in Birmingham and Solihull
At 30 June 2026, 785 adults in Birmingham and Solihull were eligible for standard Continuing Healthcare. That is 30.8 in every 50,000 adults registered with a GP, close to the England figure of 33.1 and close to the Midlands region figure of 32.0. It was the 20th highest of the 36 ICBs in England.
- This ICB30.8
- Midlands32.0
- England33.1
Fast Track Continuing Healthcare is the quicker route for someone whose condition is deteriorating rapidly and who may be nearing the end of life. At the same date 327 adults here were eligible through Fast Track, 12.8 in every 50,000, about 28% lower than the England figure of 17.7.
The last four quarters, so a single quarter is not read on its own:
| At the end of | This ICB, standard | This ICB, Fast Track | England, standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 2025 | 34.7 | 9.3 | 33.3 |
| December 2025 | 34.8 | 9.0 | 33.3 |
| March 2026 | 32.2 | 11.7 | 32.5 |
| June 2026 | 30.8 | 12.8 | 33.1 |
Per 50,000 adults registered with a GP, at the end of each quarter.
How quickly it decides
How long decisions take in Birmingham and Solihull
Of the 346 standard referrals the ICB completed in April to June 2026, 75% were completed within 28 days, against 67% across England.
At 30 June 2026, 3 standard referrals in this ICB had been open for longer than 28 days, none of them by more than 12 weeks.
Of the 288 full assessments for standard CHC the ICB completed in April to June 2026, 9% found the person eligible, against 18% across England.
The share found eligible depends on who is referred, which varies with how readily local nurses, doctors and social workers complete the checklist, so it is not a measure of your relative's chances. If a decision is taking longer than 28 days, ask the ICB's Continuing Healthcare team for a date. The process sets out each stage and its timescale.
The same everywhere
What does not change from area to area
Every ICB in England applies the same national framework. Some things that families are told vary locally do not:
- Continuing Healthcare is not means-tested. Savings and property do not come into it.
- It pays for care at home, including a live-in carer, as well as a care home place.
- The test is whether the care needed is mainly about health, judged on the nature, intensity, complexity and unpredictability of the needs.
- It starts with a checklist that any nurse, doctor or social worker can complete, followed where needed by a full assessment using the Decision Support Tool.
NHS Continuing Healthcare, explained covers each of these, the twelve areas the assessors score, and how to prepare for the assessment.
What to do next here
Contacting NHS Birmingham and Solihull about CHC
What the ICB publishes about Continuing Healthcare in this area. Each card links to the page we checked it against.
The ICB's Continuing Healthcare page
NHS continuing healthcare :: NHS Birmingham and Solihull
NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board
The All age continuing healthcare services
Phone: 0121 612 2133
Other parts of the area may have their own team, listed on the ICB's Continuing Healthcare page.
Asking for an assessment here
If you are in hospital, the complex discharge team within the hospital decides on an individual basis whether a continuing healthcare assessment is needed and refers into the continuing healthcare team. Outside hospital, the initial checklist is usually completed by a health or social care professional who knows the person and sends it to the continuing healthcare team.
How the ICB decides between care at home and a care home
Money plays no part in deciding eligibility, but the ICB says it may weigh up comparative costs and value for money when it arranges the care package, while still trying to reflect the person's preference.
Asking the ICB to review a decision
If you are not found eligible, you can appeal. The ICB says the patient or their representative should contact the continuing healthcare team in the first instance for a local review meeting, which is a chance to outline the reasons for the appeal.
Personal health budgets
Personal health budgets have been available in Birmingham and Solihull for adults and for children and young people with continuing healthcare needs since October 2014.
Worth knowing
The ICB says a letter confirming the eligibility decision is sent within five working days of the decision being made.
Worth knowing
The ICB points families to Beacon, an organisation that gives free independent advice on NHS continuing healthcare, including up to 90 minutes of free advice with a trained adviser on 0345 548 0300.
Worth knowing
For advocacy support the ICB names the Birmingham Advocacy Hub, run by a partnership of POhWER, Advocacy Matters and the Ashiana Community Project.
In most cases the quickest start is to ask your relative's GP, district nurse, hospital ward or social worker to complete the Continuing Healthcare checklist, using that name for it. If your relative is in hospital, ask before a discharge date is set.
If the answer is no
If CHC is refused, or your relative is not eligible
Ask the ICB to review the decision within 6 months of the letter. This first stage is called local resolution. Over the year to June 2026, Birmingham and Solihull completed 92 local resolution requests, and 12 of them (13%) ended with the person found eligible. Challenging a decision covers local resolution, the independent review panel and the free specialist advice available before you start.
Not being eligible for Continuing Healthcare does not mean paying for everything. The council can assess your relative's care needs and, depending on their savings and income, pay towards care at home, which you can take as a direct payment and use to choose who provides it. If your relative lives in a nursing home, the NHS may still pay a weekly amount towards the nursing part of the fees, called NHS-funded nursing care.
Council funding in the area this ICB covers
If the council is not funding care either, or your family would rather arrange it now while a decision or a review is pending, you can look at self-employed carers near you, see their rates, and talk to them before committing to anything. We do not take part in Continuing Healthcare decisions and cannot make one quicker.
Questions
Questions about Continuing Healthcare in Birmingham and Solihull
NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board. Continuing Healthcare is an NHS decision, so it is made by the integrated care board, not by the councils in the area. A team of health and care professionals assesses the needs and recommends a decision, and the ICB makes it. The council is still involved in the assessment, and it is the council you go to for care it funds if the answer is no.
The figures cannot tell you that. At 30 June 2026, 30.8 in every 50,000 adults here were eligible for standard Continuing Healthcare, against 33.1 across England. That describes how many people are receiving it, which depends on how old and how unwell the local population is as well as on how decisions are made. Whether your relative qualifies depends only on their needs, assessed against the same national rules as everywhere else.
The national framework expects a decision within 28 days of the checklist in most cases. Of the 346 standard referrals the ICB completed in April to June 2026, 75% were completed within 28 days, against 67% across England. Your relative's case can take more or less time than that.
No. Savings, income and property do not come into it anywhere in England. It depends only on whether the care needed is mainly about health. Who qualifies explains the test.
Yes. It can pay for care at home, including a carer living in, as well as a care home place. Once someone is eligible, the ICB agrees the package and the setting with the family, and a personal health budget can give you more say in how the care is arranged. What it pays for covers the detail.
Ask the ICB to review the decision within 6 months of the letter. That review is called local resolution, and if it upholds the decision you can go to NHS England for an independent review. Meanwhile your relative can ask their council for a needs assessment for care it funds. Challenging a decision covers each stage.
Continuing Healthcare in other ICBs in the Midlands region
Figures: NHS England, NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) and NHS-funded Nursing Care (FNC), April to June 2026 (published as management information). Rates are per 50,000 adults registered with a GP. NHS England's statistics page. The area covered is from the Office for National Statistics lookup of ICBs to council areas, April 2026. ICB details were read from its published pages and checked against them on 18 September 2026. Covering Birmingham and Solihull.
Care at home in Birmingham and Solihull
See self-employed carers near you with their rates, experience and reviews, and talk to the ones you like for free. Continuing Healthcare decisions are the NHS's alone; nothing here changes them.