The Decision - Health Care
How Will it be Decided Which Services/Treatment Will be Provided to Me?
The local Health Authority (HA) for Essex was formally established in 2002. It is part of the East of England Strategic Health Authority (website: http://www.eoe.nhs.uk/), established on 1 July 2006, which covers Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Of the 10 new regional SHAs in England, the East of England is one of the largest geographically and according to its website, serves a population of approximately 5.4 million people The function of the East of England SHA is to oversee and support the work of primary care, hospital, ambulance, and mental health trusts in the region.
The contact details for the East of England Strategic Health Authority are as follows:
Victoria House,
Capital Park,
Fulbourn,
Cambridge,
Cambridgeshire,
CB1 5XB
Tel: 01223 597500
Fax: 01223 597555
Eligibility Criteria for all Health Care Services
Each Strategic Health Authority must publish eligibility criteria for the local Primary Care Trusts in its area to apply when making a decision about which services and treatment are to be made available to patients. These criteria, along with policies, directions and guidance, are all available on websites or on request. The criteria dictate which continuing healthcare needs will be met and how. The government is currently consulting with the National Health Service and other authorities about establishing a ‘National Framework’ for eligibility criteria, which may mean the end to the ‘postcode lottery’ system currently being operated, whereby whether a person gets the healthcare they need and how swiftly is determined by the area in which they live. The National Framework will establish one set of eligibility criteria which apply to every area of the country, but will be applied regionally in the same way that the eligibility criteria for social care services are applied.
Eligibility for NHS Continuing Care
Eligibility for NHS Continuing Care is determined by an assessment of the person’s needs, in the same way that eligibility for social care services is determined by a Community Care Assessment. The assessment is based on the individual’s need for health care, and not on the basis of a disease or medical condition falling within the criteria. This means that two people with the same condition might have a widely differing level of need for support, so one person might be eligible for fully funded care and the other might not.
Next: Challenging the Decision