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The Fast Track pathway is the urgent route into NHS Continuing Healthcare for a person with a rapidly deteriorating condition who may be entering a terminal phase. It replaces the usual Checklist and Decision Support Tool process.
Where the Fast Track criteria are met, an appropriate clinician completes the Fast Track Pathway Tool. The completed tool is itself sufficient to establish eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare; a Checklist or full Decision Support Tool is not required first.
Government guidance states that the pathway should be used where a person has a rapidly deteriorating condition and the condition may be entering a terminal phase. It is designed to secure NHS Continuing Healthcare with minimum delay.
The question is the person's current clinical position and deterioration, not whether a particular diagnosis appears on a fixed list.
Fast Track can be used where support is needed at home, in a care home, hospice or another appropriate setting.
The tool must be completed by an appropriate clinician. The guidance defines this as a registered nurse or registered medical practitioner who is responsible for the person's diagnosis, treatment or care and is knowledgeable about their needs.
Family members and other people involved in care do not complete the Fast Track Tool themselves, but they can ask the responsible clinician to consider whether the criteria are met where they are seeing rapid deterioration.
The referral should explain why the person has a rapidly deteriorating condition and may be entering a terminal phase, supported by the clinician's knowledge of the person's needs.
The Integrated Care Board should respond promptly and positively so appropriate funding and care arrangements can be put in place without delay.
Public NHS information says the care package should normally be arranged within 48 hours of the ICB receiving the completed Fast Track Pathway Tool.
The published criterion is not a fixed prognosis measured in days or weeks. The wording is that the person has a rapidly deteriorating condition and the condition may be entering a terminal phase. The clinician must apply that test to the facts of the individual case.
Yes. Government guidance expressly recognises that a person may already be self-funding or receiving local-authority support. If the Fast Track criteria are met, the fact that an existing package is already in place does not prevent the NHS from becoming responsible for funding.
The ICB should review the person's needs and the effectiveness of the care package. In some cases a later reassessment of CHC eligibility may become appropriate, but guidance stresses careful decision-making because of the distress that rapid changes in funding can cause.
Tell us what changed, when the deterioration happened and what the NHS or care team did. We can identify whether the CHC pathway deserves closer scrutiny.
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