NHS Continuing Healthcare Activity Statistics for England, Quarter 4 2014-15 Report, Experimental Statistics

The report uses a revised GP practice population methodology based on adults aged 18 or over, the eligible group for NHS CHC.

The methodology no longer includes weighting by demographic factors which were previously calculated depending on the needs of patients within each CCG.

This report shows data for all four quarters of the 2014-15 NHS CHC dataset and a revised set of data for the four quarters from 2013-14, to allow for more accurate trend analysis.

Data for the fourth quarter of 2014-15 are the eighth to be collected under the new NHS structural arrangements. The estimated data collected up to quarter 3 have been confirmed or corrected and only two CCGs have submitted revisions to their data since the quarter 3 report was published.

The corrections affect Bath and North East Somerset (quarters 1, 2 and 3), and Camden (quarter 3 only). They also affect the aggregated totals in which these CCGs fall.

As at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014-15:

• 62,535 patients were eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare (NHS CHC) in quarter 4. This equates to 69.2 patients per 50,000 population aged 18 or over.
  
• The number of patients eligible at the end of the fourth quarter has shown a 0.7 per cent decrease compared with those eligible at the end of the previous quarter, but a 4.1 per cent increase when compared with the same quarter in 2013-14.
  
• 25,677 patients were newly eligible for NHS CHC in quarter 4, equating to 28.4 patients per 50,000 population aged 18 or over.
  
• This equates to a 4.0 per cent increase on the numbers of newly eligible patients in quarter 3 and a 9.3 per cent increase when compared with quarter 4 of the previous year, explained to some extent by higher demand for care in the winter months and an increase in fast-track applications, which in their nature have a very high conversion rate (fast-tracked applicants are usually eligible for care).