asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health, Mr Ivan Lewis, on 20 June (Official Report, House of Commons, 1226–32W), why the figures vary to the degree they do between primary care trusts; and, in particular, why the figures for Lincolnshire, South Gloucestershire, South West Essex, the East Riding of Yorkshire and Gloucestershire have fewer than 10 per 50,000 people receiving continuing NHS healthcare. [HL5467]

The National Framework for Continuing Care, introduced in October 2007, replaced 28 separate strategic health authority (SHA) continuing healthcare criteria. One of the purposes of the framework was to produce greater consistency on eligibility for continuing care across primary care trusts (PCTs) in England.

PCTs had one year from the introduction of the framework to reassess those previously eligible under the old SHA criteria. Therefore, the continuing care data currently reflect a mixture of individuals receiving care under the old and new arrangements for eligibility.

The department is currently reviewing the collection of continuing care data.