NHS Continuing HealthcareDorset
NHS Continuing Healthcare in Dorset
Continuing Healthcare is decided by the NHS, not the council. For Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset, the decision is made by NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board. At 30 June 2026, 28.4 in every 50,000 adults registered with a GP here were eligible for standard Continuing Healthcare, about 14% lower than 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
- Dorset
- 28.4
- South West region
- 29.6
- 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 Dorset
At 30 June 2026, 391 adults in Dorset were eligible for standard Continuing Healthcare. That is 28.4 in every 50,000 adults registered with a GP, about 14% lower than the England figure of 33.1 and close to the South West region figure of 29.6. It was the 22nd highest of the 36 ICBs in England.
- This ICB28.4
- South West29.6
- 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 80 adults here were eligible through Fast Track, 5.8 in every 50,000, about 67% 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 | 38.3 | 6.4 | 33.3 |
| December 2025 | 34.3 | 5.7 | 33.3 |
| March 2026 | 30.4 | 6.4 | 32.5 |
| June 2026 | 28.4 | 5.8 | 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 Dorset
Of the 141 standard referrals the ICB completed in April to June 2026, 62% were completed within 28 days, against 67% across England.
At 30 June 2026, 8 standard referrals in this ICB had been open for longer than 28 days, none of them by more than 12 weeks.
Over the year to June 2026, of the 325 full assessments for standard CHC the ICB completed, 12% found the person eligible, against 18% across England.
Where a quarter had too few decisions to give a steady percentage, the figure above covers the last four quarters together, because a percentage of a few dozen cases moves a long way on a handful of people.
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 Dorset 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 (CHC) – NHS Dorset, part of its All Age Continuing Care pages
NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board
The All Age Continuing Care Team, including the CHC Duty Team
Phone: 0300 303 4410
Email: [email protected]
Other parts of the area may have their own team, listed on the ICB's Continuing Healthcare page.
Asking for an assessment here
In Dorset a family cannot apply themselves, so you need to ask a GP, district nurse, social worker or another health or care professional to consider a checklist and make the application on the person's behalf.
Care at home: NHS Dorset's Choice & Equity Policy
NHS Dorset points people to its Choice & Equity Policy and to the All Age Continuing Care Fair Choice video for further information about care arrangements.
Personal health budgets
NHS Dorset has an operational policy that explains in detail how personal health budgets are arranged within Dorset.
Worth knowing
NHS Dorset names SWAN Advocacy as the service that can support people applying for continuing healthcare or asking for a review of a decision.
Worth knowing
From 17 November 2025 NHS Dorset stopped giving every person funded by continuing healthcare a named case coordinator and moved to a CHC duty team instead.
Worth knowing
NHS Dorset arranges checklist training for professionals and will only accept checklists from those who have completed that training.
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, Dorset completed 52 local resolution requests, and 0 of them (0%) 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 Dorset
NHS Dorset 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, 28.4 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 141 standard referrals the ICB completed in April to June 2026, 62% 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 South West 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 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset.
Care at home in Dorset
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.