To ask the Minister of Health for an update on continuing healthcare.

Continuing Healthcare (CHC) was previously available in Northern Ireland under the 2010 policy; however, following the Court of Appeal judgment in Re McMinnis (2024), key elements of the former CHC policy were found to be outside my Department’s statutory powers. My Department has issued updated guidance to Health and Social Care Trusts confirming that any CHC funding provided under the 2010 policy must cease and that any applications for CHC funding under the 2010 policy that were previously held in abeyance are to be dismissed.

Although the 2021 CHC policy remains in place, it adopts an entirely different eligibility criterion concerning CHC which seeks to place the emphasis on healthcare provided in hospitals.