Care Home Fees - Who Pays?

aardvaak

The Doctor has said her "prognosis is not good" but could regain some former senses

EdInvestor

I was effecitively given 2 or 3 days notice to find her a place in a home, otherwise I was told soc services would arrange a place in a home some 30 miles from where I live, or alternatively she would be placed short term in a mental hospital.

This kind of pressure, amounting to virtual bullying, is outrageous, especially when the issues are so complex and the amounts of money so huge.

Anyone who is over say 60, or who has elderly parents, is advised to get informed about all this well in advance: clearly you can get hit very badly in the pocket (apart from the emotional issues involved) if you don't know what you're doing. :mad:

As a first step there needs to be a proper public register of care homes, complete with costs, facilities, and specialisations available to consult online.

allycat999

There is a public register of care homes, agencies and a detailed list of who to consult online. It is https://www.carestandards.org.uk this is a site that allows you to search for care homes or agencies to provide care to people in their own home and to check the care standards of them.
Care can be provided to the elderly in either a care home which includes residential or nursing care or via an agency that sends carers directly to your home. Fortunately the government is at the moment supporting people to live in their own home as an agency care package can cost less than the person living in a home. A care package can cost between £10 - £15 per hour for 1 carer but can also be charged at 1/4 or 1/2 hours. It can also involve two carers if necessary. For people who are unable to stand, hoists or standaids can be provided at no cost as can bathing aids, pads, incontinence aids and even electric beds. Usually the person does not have to pay these fees, as it is either fully or partly funded. If you are looking at putting someone into a care home you have to bear in mind that if you put them into residential care and their health then deteriorates that they will have to be moved to a home that provides nursing care. Some places provide both therefore no move would be required. I work in the community and there is so much help that the elderly can get but dont because they dont know of the services available to them, they can get funding provided for personal care, to help them prepare meals or to prepare meals for them but many simply struggle on.

margaretclare

bel2310 wrote:

My Mum suffers from Dementia, she is incontinent and has to be fed, but is apparently not entitled to any help from the NHS. I did visit a solicitor who deals with this and she said that her condition is not yet "bad" enough. She is in a residential not nursing home, cost £1600 per month. I was effectively given 2 or 3 days notice to find her a place in a home, otherwise I was told soc services would arrange a place in a home some 30 miles from where I live, or alternatively she would be placed short term in a mental hospital. I was very lucky that the home I found, whilst a little shabby, has wonderful caring staff and Mum seems as happy as she can be there.

That's the main thing, that the staff are caring and that your Mum seems happy.

I agree that 'being given 2 or 3 days' notice' to find her a place in a home is absolutely scandalous. How are you meant to make these kind of decisions in that short timespan, given that you might want to visit several and make comparisons?

We have a friend at church whose husband developed dementia as a result of repeated TIAs, what are called 'mini-strokes'. He was going to the EMI ward in the local mental hospital, first for days, then for respite week at a time (but he still came to church because it was so local) then he went in there long-term, then he was transferred to a local EMI unit which was brand-new and purpose-built, a lovely place - the only disadvantage was that it was virtually impossible to get to without your own transport. We took her to visit once when her brother couldn't, because she doesn't drive. Eventually he died. All this time - 4 or 5 years - he received excellent and appropriate care, and at no time did it cost his wife a penny-piece because the EMI (elderly mentally ill) care was all under the NHS. Althoug it was said to be 'elderly mentally ill' in fact he died well before his 70th birthday.

So the experiences that people have can be so different, and why? As someone said earlier, we are supposed to have a 'National' Health Service, but in fact we haven't.

Margaret

Techno

Bel2310
Renting your mum's house out seems to be a realy good idea and one I haven't seen suggested before - particularly if it is the family home itself that needs to be 'kept in the family' rather than just the capital it can raise
It does mean though that you have to have someone to help you organise this if you are not able to do it yourself and there may be 'income gaps' if there are no tenants for a while

EdInvestor

allycat999 wrote:

There is a public register of care homes, agencies and a detailed list of who to consult online. It is https://www.carestandards.org.uk

Thanks for that allycat

This looks to be a very useful site, with lots of detailed information about care homes by postcode including price and facilities, plus inspection reports.

Definitely one to bookmark and study.

bel2310

I should have said in my earlier post, Mum was living at home with carers calling in 4 times a day, plus myself, but was admitted to hospital after a fall. It was from the hospital I was given such short notice to find a place in a care home as she was deemed no longer safe to be at home. Her dementia is vascular dementia, as a result of several tia mini strokes. Certainly having the home carers extended the time she was able to stay in her own home for about 9 months so it is welll worth considering for anyone in a similar situation.

margaretclare

bel2310 wrote:

It was from the hospital I was given such short notice to find a place in a care home as she was deemed no longer safe to be at home. Her dementia is vascular dementia, as a result of several tia mini strokes.

Isn't this so similar to the friend whom I described above, but whose care and treatment were so different. From the EMI unit locally to a full-time EMI residence, the moves appeared to be seamless, all done with discussion with his wife, a former nurse/midwife/health visitor, no stress placed on her to move him within 2 days, and none of it costing her a penny-piece. (They'd been in church ministries all their lives anyway so hadn't much money!!) She's still living in a rented flat near the little town centre where they'd lived together after they moved here.

Why does it have to be so different???

Incidentally, this vascular dementia would very likely have happened to my late first husband. He had a coronary at age 38 in 1972, never worked from 1976, started having mini-strokes in the mid-1980s (that's how I know first-hand about the need to support the affected arm), had another coronary in October 1991 and died the following March aged 58. I am glad the dementia didn't happen to him, but it would have done given time. Whether a coronary or a stroke, as I wrote earlier, it's all part of the diseased cardiovascular system. My aunt had a stroke but died 5 years later of a coronary.

My sympathies.

Margaret

margaretclare

aardvaak wrote:

She had a a brain scan on her 2nd day and I think they said it was a clot.

In that case, was she given a 'clot-busting' drug, and if not, why not?

Apparently clot-busters are so common now that they are given as a matter of course in many circumstances. My DH recently had revision of knee replacement (26th September) and he had daily 'clot-busting' injections as a preventative measure. Apparently this is done now in all cases of major surgery, although I didn't have it last December. They can also be given by paramedics who are called to a suspected coronary or stroke. It's the early intervention which is so crucial.

I have been thinking a bit more about your Mum's situation. I know you want her home, but...if she doesn't recover much more function than she has now, the inability to stand, swallow, speak, not to mention the incontinence - are you confident of your ability to manage all this at home 24/7? IMHO this is definitely a case where skilled nursing care is essential and that means care funded, even if not provided, by the NHS.

Best wishes

Margaret

Margaret

aardvaak

I don't know about the clot busting drug - I will ask.

If not is it too late to give it now?

She can now swallow she has been having Grade one TX meals (mash).

She today did 1 full stand and 3 half stands for physio.

On Saturday she did say a coup[le more words that pleased me and the Nurses, - however yesterday and today she has said very little.