NHS Continuing HealthcareNorfolk and Suffolk
NHS Continuing Healthcare in Norfolk and Suffolk
Continuing Healthcare is decided by the NHS, not the council. For Norfolk and Suffolk, the decision is made by NHS Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board. At 30 June 2026, 32.8 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
- Norfolk and Suffolk
- 32.8
- East of England region
- 36.5
- 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 Norfolk and Suffolk
At 30 June 2026, 972 adults in Norfolk and Suffolk were eligible for standard Continuing Healthcare. That is 32.8 in every 50,000 adults registered with a GP, close to the England figure of 33.1 and close to the East of England region figure of 36.5. It was the 18th highest of the 36 ICBs in England.
- This ICB32.8
- East of England36.5
- 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 397 adults here were eligible through Fast Track, 13.4 in every 50,000, about 24% 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 | 33.7 | 12.5 | 33.3 |
| December 2025 | 33.5 | 12.8 | 33.3 |
| March 2026 | 33.5 | 14.5 | 32.5 |
| June 2026 | 32.8 | 13.4 | 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 Norfolk and Suffolk
Of the 566 standard referrals the ICB completed in April to June 2026, 54% were completed within 28 days, against 67% across England.
At 30 June 2026, 90 standard referrals in this ICB had been open for longer than 28 days, 3 of them by more than 12 weeks.
Of the 404 full assessments for standard CHC the ICB completed in April to June 2026, 13% 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 Norfolk and Suffolk 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 Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board
The NHS Continuing Healthcare Team
Phone: 01603 257243
Other parts of the area may have their own team, listed on the ICB's Continuing Healthcare page.
Asking for an assessment here
You cannot complete an NHS Continuing Healthcare checklist yourself, and your family or friends cannot complete one for you. If no other health or care professional is involved in your parent's care and you need help getting a checklist, you should contact the ICB's Continuing Healthcare teams.
Care at home: NHS Continuing Healthcare Equity and Choice Policy
This policy, version 1 dated April 2026, sets out how the ICB commissions care for people assessed as eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare. It says the setting in which care is provided is based on clinical need and is decided by the ICB, with due consideration of the person's wishes, and that the cost of the care needed to meet assessed needs is compared with the cost of the person's preferred package, alongside the relative benefit of each option.
Asking the ICB to review a decision
If you disagree with the eligibility decision you must contact the ICB's Continuing Healthcare team to start its local resolution process within six months of the date of the eligibility decision letter, and the ICB says it will not accept late requests.
Personal health budgets
The ICB says that people who are eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare and who need care at home will be offered a notional personal health budget by default.
Worth knowing
If your parent is registered with a GP in east Suffolk or west Suffolk, contact the Continuing Healthcare team on 01473 770198. If they are registered with a GP in Norfolk or Waveney, the number is 01603 257243.
Worth knowing
The ICB will consider funding waking night care where it is needed to give an unpaid family carer a break, for up to three nights each week.
Worth knowing
When you appeal, the team asks you to complete a questionnaire giving your grounds for appeal, which must be returned within 28 days, and it aims to start the local resolution process within three months.
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, Norfolk and Suffolk completed 144 local resolution requests, and 9 of them (6%) 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 Norfolk and Suffolk
NHS Norfolk and Suffolk 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, 32.8 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 566 standard referrals the ICB completed in April to June 2026, 54% 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 East of England 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 Norfolk and Suffolk.
Care at home in Norfolk and Suffolk
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.