This free CHC eligibility screener gives families a practical first step before an NHS checklist or full Decision Support Tool meeting. It is built around the same clinical areas used in NHS Continuing Healthcare assessments, including behaviour, cognition, mobility, nutrition, continence, skin integrity, breathing, and medication complexity. In plain language, the tool helps you translate day-to-day care reality into an eligibility pattern you can act on.
The screener is not a legal or clinical determination, and it does not replace the formal CHC process run by your Integrated Care Board. What it does do is reduce uncertainty early. Many families are asked to make urgent decisions about care home funding, hospital discharge, or retrospective claims before they have clear visibility of whether a primary health need argument is likely to stand up. This tool is designed to close that gap quickly and honestly.
Your result is based on threshold patterns from NHS checklist logic, plus practical advocacy signals that commonly change outcomes: evidence quality, fluctuation, and whether needs are being under-scored because they are well managed. That means a borderline result is still useful. It tells you where records, timelines, and domain-level examples can materially strengthen your position before you submit documents or attend meetings.
If the screener indicates a stronger likelihood of CHC eligibility, the next step is to prepare evidence deliberately. Request care notes, risk assessments, medication records, and incident logs, then map them against each domain instead of relying on a narrative summary. If the result is uncertain or lower, treat that as a planning signal rather than a final answer. You can still qualify when new evidence shows intensity, complexity, unpredictability, or interaction between needs.
Families can use this page without signup, and no medical document upload is required. Complete the screener, review the rationale behind your result, and use that output to decide whether to request a checklist now, gather stronger records first, or seek additional case-preparation support. For many people, this is the fastest way to move from confusion to a structured CHC funding plan.
Could your relative qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare? CHC is a package of care funded entirely by the NHS for people with complex, ongoing health needs. If your relative qualifies, the NHS pays for all of their care — including care home fees.
The screener takes about 3 minutesand walks through each care domain in plain language. At the end, you'll see how your answers map against the official threshold rules.
First, tell us who you're completing this for:
Who is this screener for?
A few things to know before you start
Not sure if this is the right tool? Read our plain-language guide to CHC eligibility first.