Hemel One
Boundary Way
Hemel Hempstead
HP2 7YU
01442 898 888
xxxxx.xxx@xxx.xxx
FOI Reference Number: 17180209
Request Date: 10 February 2018 (clarified 14 February 2018)
Response Date: 13 March 2018
Dear Mr Courtney,
Further to your request to NHS Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group under
the Freedom of Information Act (2000), please find below our answers to your
questions.
1)
Please state the number of individuals in receipt of full CHC funding in the FY
2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.
The number of adults that received fully funded nursing care contributions at any
point during the above years (unless otherwise stated) is as follows:
2014/5 - 417 (as at Year End)
2015/16 - 750 (as at Year End)
2016/17 - 882 (as at Year End)
2017/18 - 532 (Year to Date)
Further information can be found in the CCG’s benchmark data, which is
published by NHS Digital on a quarterly basis. The data release includes: number
eligible for NHS CHC, incomplete referrals over 28 days, personal health budgets,
number of new referrals, number of referrals completed, number of referrals
completed within 28 days, number of assessments completed, number assessed
as eligible / not eligible, number no longer eligible, assessment conversion rate,
referral conversion rate the number of Decision Support Tools completed in
acute / non-acute settings, and NHS-funded Nursing Care activity.
Chair: Nicolas Small
Chief Executive Officer: Kathryn Magson
Please click on the links below to access the full published reports (excel format).
2014/15: https://digital.nhs.uk/media/26913/NHS-Continuing-Healthcare-
Activity-Statistics-for-England-Quarter-4-2014-15-Annex-1/Any/nhs-chc-eng-q4-
2014-15-anx1
2015/16: https://digital.nhs.uk/media/28897/NHS-Continuing-Healthcare-
Activity-Statistics-for-England-Quarter-4-2015-16-Annex-1/Any/nhs-chc-eng-q4-
2015-16-anx1
2016/17: https://digital.nhs.uk/media/31455/NHS-Continuing-Healthcare-
Activity-Statistics-for-England-Quarter-4-2016-17-Annex-1/default/nhs-chc-eng-
q4-2016-17-anx1
2017/18: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-
content/uploads/sites/2/2018/02/CHC-and-FNC-Quarterly-Data-Q3-2017-
18_xyR6An.xlsx
2)
Please state the number of individuals in receipt of partial / nursing
contribution in the FY 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.
The number of adults that received funded nursing care contributions at any
point during the above years (unless otherwise stated) is as follows:
2014/15 - 863 (as at Year End)
2015/16 – 1135 (as at Year End)
2016/17 - 1300 (as at Year End)
2017/18 - 1236 (Year to Date)
3)
Please state the number of individuals receiving full funding for residential /
nursing home placements in the FY 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
Please see Answer 1 for the number of adults receiving continuing healthcare
funding (ie. full healthcare funding) for physical or learning disability health
needs during those years. Please note that the NHS does not fund residential
care.
4)
Please list the residential companies that were contracted for full funding
placements in the FY 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.
Information not held, as we do not commission residential placements. You may
be able to obtain this information from Herts County Council
Chair: Nicolas Small
Chief Executive Officer: Kathryn Magson
(xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx), as they are the commissioner for residential (non-
nursing) provision.
5)
Please state the number of 6 weeks placement reviews that were not carried
out in the 6 week deadline in the FY2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.
The CCG provide case management to all patients eligible for CHC as per national
framework guidance and will undertake care plan reviews prior to the 3 month
and annual review if patients presented needs warrant this (i.e. if care needs
increased / requires additional care intervention). The CCG do not routinely
carry out 6 week placement reviews. Our target is to carry out placement
reviews within 12 weeks.
We did not centrally record the dates that assessments were due and carried out
until the current financial year, therefore we do not hold information on the
number of reviews carried out in financial years 2014/15, 2015/16, or 2016/17.
For your information, the average timescale by which placement reviews are
carried out is 18 weeks. Once the CCG has carried out a review, the next review
date is updated; therefore it is not possible for the CCG to calculate the number
of reviews that were not carried out within timescale.
As CCG is currently taking longer than the target of 12 weeks to carry out
placement reviews, staff have been recruited to help us work towards achieving
the 12 week timescale set out in the National Framework.
6)
Please state the number of annual reviews that were not carried [out] as due in
the FY 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.
We did not centrally record the dates that annual reviews were due and carried
out until the current financial year, therefore we do not hold information on the
number of annual reviews carried out within 12 months in financial years
2014/15, 2015/16, or 2016/17.
The average timescale by which annual reviews are carried out is 58 weeks (1
year 6 weeks). Once the CCG has carried out a review, the next review date is
updated; therefore, it is not possible for the CCG to calculate the number of
reviews that were not carried out.
Chair: Nicolas Small
Chief Executive Officer: Kathryn Magson
The CCG has not yet achieved the target of 52 weeks as a result of staff
vacancies. These vacancies have now been filled, and the CCG is working
towards achieving the 52 week timescale as set out in the National Framework.
Please note, however, that the CCG will undertake care plan reviews prior to the
3 month and annual review if patients’ presented needs warrant this (i.e. if care
needs increase / require additional care intervention.
7)
Please state when Herts Valleys carries our Quality and Procurement checks on
residential providers that is funds (sic) in the FY 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.
Not applicable, as residential providers are commissioned by the Local Authority,
not the NHS. The CCG would not attend a review of a residential home unless we
were invited to attend by Herts County Council. For information on reviews
carried out by Herts County Council, please contact them via
xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xx.
8)
Please confirm the number of placements in homes owned or run by TLC Group
in the FY 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.
The number of adult / LD patients in receipt of continuing healthcare or funded
nursing care funding at nursing homes run by the TLC Group in 2016/17 was 9.
The number of patients placed in 2017/18 (to date) is 14.
Prior to the above time periods, the numbers of placements for each provider
were not centrally logged; therefore we are unable to provide the requested
data for 2014/15 or 2015/16.
9)
Please confirm the policy timeframe for carrying out Q&P checks for individuals
in placement
Herts Valleys CCG’s policy states that we will review patients receiving NHS
funded care within 3 months of being placed, then annually thereafter. Please
note, however, that the CCG will undertake care plan reviews prior to the 3
month and annual reviews if patients presented needs warrant this (i.e. if care
needs increase or require additional care intervention).
10)
Please state for each FY 2014-2017 the number of overdue Q&P’s for
residential placements.
Information not held, as we are not the commissioner for residential placements.
You may be able to obtain this information from Herts County Council
Chair: Nicolas Small
Chief Executive Officer: Kathryn Magson
11)
Please state Herts Valleys policy for assisting resident and their families with
complaints and provision issues within residential placements.
Not applicable, as the CCG does not commission residential placements.
For your information; if you wish to complain about a residential home, you
should write to them directly asking them to address your complaint. If you are
dissatisfied with their response to your complaint, you can ask the Parliamentary
Health Service Ombudsman to review your complaint and the residential home’s
answer and provide a judgement on whether your complaint has been fully
answered, or whether there are further actions that they would advise the
residential home to take to resolve your concerns.
12)
Please clarify why you continually fail to enact the guidelines in the NF for
assisting complaints from funded residents and their families.
Please note that the Freedom of Information Act (2000) covers requests for
factual information. It does not require public authorities to respond to
pejorative statements. As previously advised; if you wish to make a complaint
about a provider, please direct your complaint to that provider.
13)
Please clarify if Herts Valleys communicates and compares with other CCGs in
respect of Q&P at residential placements.
As previously stated; the commissioner for residential placements is the local
authority (Herts County Council for residential placements within the Herts
Valleys area). Should the Local Authority that commissions a residential
placement identify a concern, they would invite all placing authorities to a
professionals meeting, to discuss their concerns.
14)
Please state the number of transfers of funding to LA that were delayed due to
“administrative errors” or the more honest “we forgot / couldn’t be bothered
(to include [patient name redacted]) in the FY 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.
Information not held. Transitions from NHS funding to Local Authority funding
can be delayed due to a number of reasons, (for example lack of availability of a
social worker, difficulty identifying a suitable placement, or time taken to secure
a meeting that includes all representatives of the patient). We do not, therefore,
record on our database “delay in transition to LA funding”, as we would not be
able to objectively monitor this statistic. For your information, the CCG works
proactively with the Local Authority to avoid gaps in care delivery whilst funding
streams transfer.
Chair: Nicolas Small
Chief Executive Officer: Kathryn Magson
15)
Please state the dates and reason for meetings between HV and Carlton Court
“care” home in the FY2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.
I can confirm that the CCG has placed one or more patients at Carlton Court;
therefore we will have held discussions with Carlton Court regarding the
placement and care of individual patients. Details of conversations regarding
individual patient care are exempt from release under Section 40(2) of the
Freedom of Information Act (2000), as this constitutes personal data.
For your information, the commissioner for residential homes in Barnet is Barnet
Council. Should you wish to contact them to determine what information they
hold, they can be contacted via xxxx.xxxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx.
16)
Please clarify if there is any policy for financial reimbursement or penalty
against failing providers or for breach of contract – if so when and who was this
enacted against?
If you are dissatisfied with the care provided by a home, you should contact that
home to discuss your concern. If you wish to request recompense from a home,
you should contact that home to request this.
17)
Please clarify if the CCG continues to pay residential fees to commercial
placements whilst individuals are under hospital care for dehydration, “falls”,
and / or medication issues.
Within Herts Valleys, where a funded patient is admitted to hospital, they would
continue to be funded for 2 weeks. After that point, if they were still in hospital,
funding for their placement would cease, as funding to cover their treatment
would already be covered during their hospital stay. Information on the
management of patient safety, including what constitutes a “Serious Incident”, is
available on the NHS Improvement website here:
https://improvement.nhs.uk/improvement-hub/patient-safety/.
18)
Please state what monitoring and reporting the CCG / CC undertakes when a
fully or partial funded individual is admitted to hospital. (ie. are the providers
required to report to funders and time frame to report).
Providers that we commission should notify the CCG within a week of admission
of a funded resident to hospital.
Chair: Nicolas Small
Chief Executive Officer: Kathryn Magson
Yours sincerely,
Aryldi Moss-Burke
Freedom of Information Officer
NHS Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group
To comply with the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations (2015), this information is
provided to you under the Open Government Licence (OGL). Information on the OGL, together
with conditions of use and exemptions, can be found here:
http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/ogl-user-guidance.pdf.
Information on the Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations (2015) can be found here
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/psi--guidance-for-
public-sector-bodies.pdf.
Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group operates an internal complaints procedure in relation
to Freedom of Information. If you are dissatisfied with our response, you should in the first
instance contact Diane Curbishley, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Nursing & Quality, to
request an internal review. Any such request should be submitted within 20 working days of your
receiving our response. We would not normally accept a request for a review later than 20
working days after you have received our response.
In the event that you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to complain to the Information
Commissioner for a determination on whether or not the Clinical Commissioning Group has
complied with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act (2000).
The Information Commissioner’s contact details are:
Information Commissioners Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF.
Further information on your rights under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) is available at
www.ico.gov.uk
Chair: Nicolas Small
Chief Executive Officer: Kathryn Magson