DOZENS of appeals against NHS decisions over funding for people’s care in Herefordshire and Worcestershire have been outstanding for more than a year.
NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire has revealed it has 82 outstanding Continuing Healthcare appeals as of November 11, of which 40 were received before November 2025.
It comes after an investigation found reviews completed during 2025/26 took an average of 441 days, more than four times the three months expected under government guidance.
The longest review completed during the year took 1,003 days, according to research by the FairGo Institute.
NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire, which is in charge of commissioning health services in the two counties, has confirmed the figures are accurate.
NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is a package of care funded entirely by the NHS for adults whose needs are primarily health-related.
Eligibility depends on a person’s care needs rather than their income or savings and the funding can cover care provided at home or in a care home.
People who are refused CHC funding can ask the integrated care board (ICB) to reconsider its decision through a review, also referred to as local resolution.
The original decision remains in force while it is challenged, meaning people receiving care may have to pay towards it themselves or rely on means-tested council support while waiting for the outcome.
The FairGo Institute’s The Clock Stops at No investigation found the average time taken for reviews completed by NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire increased from 165 days in 2024/25 to 441 days in 2025/26.
A spokesperson for NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire said: “Over the past 18 months, the Continuing Healthcare service has undergone a number of significant changes, including restructuring its clinical teams and introducing a new digital case management system.
“At the same time, the service has experienced staffing pressures, including the loss of experienced clinical staff.
“Together, these changes temporarily reduced the capacity available to complete reviews and contributed to longer waiting times.
“We recognise that waiting times have become too long and are taking action to address this, including strengthening clinical capacity and reviewing our processes to help reduce delays.”
Asked what was being done about the backlog, the NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire spokesperson said: “We are taking a number of steps to reduce the backlog and improve waiting times.
“This includes strengthening the clinical team, simplifying our processes to make reviews more efficient, and exploring how digital tools can help us manage and track cases more effectively.
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“We are closely monitoring progress and working as quickly as possible to clear the backlog, while ensuring each appeal is reviewed thoroughly and appropriately.”
FairGo is calling for NHS England to publish figures showing how long people wait for their appeals to be resolved.
Under existing rules, NHS England can allow a case to progress to Independent Review before the local process has finished if requiring someone to wait would cause an “undue delay”.
FairGo wants reviews still unresolved after three months to normally be treated as an undue delay, unless the ICB can show good reason for taking longer.