Care Home Assesment - How much will council contribute to Care Home fees?

monkeyspanner

lessonlearned wrote: »

Thank you so much Pollycat.

My husband is currently in respite care this week and it's one of the few homes I feel comfortable about.

He will need to go into permanent care sooner rather than later and I really want him to go into this particular home. Trouble is the cost.

Tomorrow he is having a "nursing" assessment - arranged by this SS care manager. I assume this is a Continuing Care Assessment.

Do you know offhand if he this is deemed necessary do the PCT then pick up the tab for his care. If so is it likely to be fully funded or will I be expected to top it up.

Sorry to be a nuisance but I'm going loopy trying to sort it all out.

Anyway - have a really busy day but will definitely look at that info you've directed me to tonight.

Thank you so much for your help - I really appreciate it.

His care manager is very nice but has a very pronounced Cameroon accent and I struggle to understand him sometimes.

Thanks again - will keep you posted with how I get on tomorrow.

I'm not sure if this will reach you in time. If an assessment is being carried out it is important that you know what it is for. A CHC assessment is a two stage process the first is a CHC checklist this can be carried out by a number of different people including social services but in most circumstances would be delegated to the hospital discharge team. This checklist is to determine if the patients needs are such that a full CHC assessment based on a decision support tool (DST) needs to be performed. If the checklist indicates a full CHC assessment is not required then an assessment for the nursing supplement can be carried out. By terming it a "nursing assessment" this may indicate that a CHC checklist has already been done or it could indicate that it has been assumed that CHC funding is not applicable prior to any formal assessment. The checklist is supposed to be lenient so that it catches all patients who may be right for CHC.

If indicated by the checklist the DST based CHC assessment should be carried out by specially trained assessors normally working for the PCT CHC team. If awarded this funding would cover the entire costs of the care and is not means tested. As a result the NHS will do almost anything in its power to avoid awarding the funding and it is extremely difficult to obtain and often requires relatives to spend a considerable amount of time and effort fighting the assessment results. Essentially the decision is based on whether the patients medical needs are greater than their domestic needs. If you want to find out more do a forum search for CHC on this site and you will find a long thread.

Throughout the assessment process you should be kept informed and given the opportunity to comment and disagree with findings but often people are not kept informed because it makes the NHS staff's life easier. Just mentioning Continuing Health Care will make staff aware that you are better informed than most and may make them more careful to follow proper proceedure.

lessonlearned

Thank you so much Pollycat and Monkeyspanner.

I am in the middle of painting my husband's bedroom at the moment - just having a quick 5 min break.

The care manager calls it a "nursing assessment". It takes place tomorrow morning so will spend some time this evening reading up the links you've posted and will take some notes.

It really is a like trying to find your way through a maze. I've learned that you need to really fight to get the right help and advice, that no one wants to cough up and help with funding, that it really pays to swot up in advance and as you say know the jargon and the lingo.

One of my husbands' medical team asked if I was a healthcare professional - I must have sounded as if I knew what I was talking about.:rotfl:

Anyway thank you so much for taking the time to help and advise me - I will definitely be doing my homework tonight:D.

monkeyspanner

puddy wrote: »

i know im being really dim, by why does the LA do a financial assessment if you are self funding?

surely the result of looking at fees minus income will always result in the same amount, ie if income is £200 a week, care home fees ar £700 a week, leaving £500, that is what the person pays out of their 'pot', so they are still paying £700 a week??

im talking here about people with more than 23k, so what does the assesment ever achieve

There are some situations where the self-funder has the majority of their capital tied up in their home. In this case if it is their intention to sell their home to fund care then they can apply for a "12 week disregard" in order to market their home. During this period they will be treated as if they are social services supported if they have less than £23250 in other assets.

As you mention in another post all care home residents are self-funding to some extent in that they have to hand over the majority of their state pension and occupational pensions and lose certain benefits like attendance allowance to fund some of the care costs.
If there is a spouse some of the occupational pension may be disregarded from a financial assessment if they rely on that income.

monkeyspanner

lessonlearned wrote: »

Thank you so much Pollycat and Monkeyspanner.

I am in the middle of painting my husband's bedroom at the moment - just having a quick 5 min break.

The care manager calls it a "nursing assessment". It takes place tomorrow morning so will spend some time this evening reading up the links you've posted and will take some notes.

It really is a like trying to find your way through a maze. I've learned that you need to really fight to get the right help and advice, that no one wants to cough up and help with funding, that it really pays to swot up in advance and as you say know the jargon and the lingo.

One of my husbands' medical team asked if I was a healthcare professional - I must have sounded as if I knew what I was talking about.:rotfl:

Anyway thank you so much for taking the time to help and advise me - I will definitely be doing my homework tonight:D.

Good Luck. As you say its best to be well informed when dealing with the NHS and Social Services. We spent the best part of 12 months trying to backtrack through the system due to not being supported by social services and eventually were given a retrospective CHC award for my MIL's care costs. But it does take you away from the support of your relative at a difficult time.

lessonlearned

Just a quick update.

Did all my swotting up last night in preparation for my husband's assessment. It had to be postponed because one member of the team couldn't make it.:mad:

Luckily it's not screamingly urgent - it's just me wanting to be prepared for what is to come with my husband's illness and his subsequent care needs.

Anyway I was at least well prepped and was able to have a chat with his care manager and the PCT representative and was able to demonstrate that I knew what they were talking about.:D

Many thanks for all your help on here. It's going to be a long saga - it has been every step of the way so far.

I'm getting there ..............

Thanks again everyone.