Reclaim Care Home Costs for Free- New MSE guide

People in Wales can also claim back money through the Welsh Government scheme although not sure if the deadline has passed. In my line of work I've seen many people get refunds.

Gmod wrote: »

On a similar note, I read somewhere that the care home/PCT cannot force you to sell your home immediately. For example, if my father was in a care home we could wait until after his death to "settle the bill"?

Does anyone know if this is true?

If you have an asset like a property it would be the council social services assessing how much contribution you have to pay towards your care fees. The care home are not involved in this directly other than setting the fees they are prepared to accept. This can vary for the same services between what is paid by a self-funder and what the council may pay. The PCT are involved if the resident is due CHC funding or the nursing supplement which are both funded from the NHS.

The council assess both income, including state pension, and capital. Property is included in capital assets. Whilst the council cannot force a sale if assessed as self-funding the resident may be put in the position that the property has to be sold to fund care. There are certain exemptions which mean the property will be excluded from the assessment e.g. if the spouse of the resident still lives in the property. Or if any person normally resident in the property is over 60.

The resident can apply for a deferred fee arrangement with the council. If this is agreed there will be a financial charge put on the property (similar to a mortgage but the amount own gets larger as more fees are paid) and fees will accrue against this charge. When the property is sold the council get repaid from the proceeds of the sale. It should be noted that there are no interest charges on the deferred fee arrangement until the resident dies.

There are obviously other arrangements the resident could make to pay fees e.g. by renting out the property. Making their own loan arrangements against the property value etc..

I hope this helps clarify what you have heard.

in_need_of_help wrote: »

I saw the link today on the weekly email, well done to all of you who have put this together and to those who have been sucessfull.
My mum has had a bad stroke and after the main hospital was discharged to a community hospital where she could stay for only 6 weeks, we manage 7 weeks and 3days! She was given the assessemnt for care by the staff nurse, they went over this with me but i do not have a copy of it, but it was to assist with transfering her to an interim care home, to prove she needed assistance. She was transferred, and now needs to undergo a Financial Assmt which by all accounts will mean she is to pay for her care. This interim care home is inorder for use to convert our gargage to accomodation and wet room for mum to move in with us as they have said she cannot live independently, perhaps i can claim back the costs for this too....
However after reading todays link, i believe she has a need for continuing health care something the NHS keep close so we the general public do not know about it!!
So any ideas on how i should tackle this, do i argue now with the nhs, pct or ......
Thanks in advance for your help.
p.s. will have power of att in the next 2 weeks.

Couple of things to bear in mind.
If your Mum is in england she should have had an initial CHC checklist performed prior to discharge to see if she should have a full DST based CHC funding assessment performed. The patient and/or carer should be informed of the result of this checklist. If this was not done the PCT have failed to follow the gudelines of the CHC National Framework document.

CHC funding is available in any setting including your own home.

My advice would be to follow this up as soon as you can as making retrospective claims are more difficult.

DaisyHawkins wrote: »

monkeyspanner wrote: »

I agree with this completely. Read the DST and be prepared to argue each criteria or the assessment will downplay the seriousness of your relatives condition. Also read the National Framework document to see if the PCT is following proceedure. You will have to fight each step of the process and it is not a simple process even down to having to argue the meaning of individual words on the DST.

For more personal experience see this MSE thread which has been running for some years.


Thanks for this link which I will read with interest. Our experience is one of failure.
My mother-in-law has MS. She is incontinent, immobile, bedbound and nearly blind. Her hands are badly deformed to the extent that she can only feed herself with finger food and needs to be assisted with her meals. She frequently suffers from urinary tract infections which make her delirious and at worst comatose. She has been paying for her own care at home for a number of years and was admitted to hospital when her bedsores became infected. On discharge she went into a nursing home andher care was being paid for by continuing health care. This year she was reassessed and the funding has been terminated because her bedsores have cleared up and there is no longer a medical need for her care. We appealed but to no avail. She is currently paying for her care which approx. £800/week and we are in the process of selling her house.

Did you get an Independant review panel when you appealed?

ladybrady wrote: »

I don't know the full in's and out's but my Grandma suffered from Dementia and Alzheimer 's which got worse over the years. She was admitted to Hospital and then discharged straight into a Nursing Home as she could no longer care for herself. She was ringing the Police as she was convinced there were boy's and girls in her house taunting her. Her condition deteriorated quite quickly and I think she was in nursing home that specialised in Dementia patients for approx 18 months. My mum became POA and looked after her affairs. My mum was told as my Grandmother had money she had to pay for her own nursing home fee's which were i think around £800 p\w which then increased considerably as her condition deteriorated.

My Grandmother died in 2008 and i have mentioned this post to my mum but am wondering if anyone has an opinion on whether we would be eligible for a claim as my Grandmother has passed away and we no longer have any paperwork for the nursing home fee's/bank statements.

Many thanks

Don't worry about technicalities at the moment, if you and your Mum think she should have been eligible (which it certainly sounds like she would have been) put in a claim via your PCT. The nursing home should have records going back to then (they are obliged by law to keep records for a minimum of 6 years). The PCT will want to know which nursing home she was in and what date she went into the nursing home and the date of her death (and date of birth). Also visit the Alzheimer Society's web site, they have very good info on there.