Is funding available for 24hr care at home?

zaksmum

My widowed aunt, who is 77, has dementia and her children have recently placed her in a care home specialising in this condition.

Previously they paid for carers to stay with her during the day but in the evenings she was going outdoors and getting lost.

She is very distressed in the care home. The decision has now been taken to bring her home and obtain 24 hour live in care for her.

This will cost about £1000 a week which the six children are willing to pay between them, but is there any government funding available that might help to pay for this?

My aunt has no savings and her house is worth about £80K

paddedjohn

Probably best left where she is.

POPPYOSCAR

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/Pages/funding-care.aspx

xylophone

Your aunt is receiving Attendance Allowance?

pmlindyloo

Difficult to comment on the best arrangements for your aunt as we do not know the extent of her dementia or other care needs that she has.

Everyone has the right to an assessment of their care needs.

I do not know whether social services are already involved. If they are then you need a meeting with your aunt's social worker to discuss what help there is to care for her at home. They may be able to provide some support and the family arrange other additional support.

If she hasn't already got a social worker then you need to ask for an assessment from them.

As well as the link above here is another one:

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dementia-guide/pages/dementia-care-at-home.aspx

PasturesNew

You need to work out why she's distressed. Is it genuine, or has she simply "got it into her head" that there's an issue to be distressed about. With dementia they do hallucinate and create situations in their head that aren't actually occurring.

Being at home, even with live-in carers, won't give her the same quality of lifestyle she can have in a home.

In a home there's 24/7 care from multiple people. Some you like, some not so.... but there's always people around keeping an eye out on what you're up to.

There's chance to "chat" to many many more people in a home. All the other residents, other residents' visitors, staff. Loads of people saying a cheery "hello" multiple times a day.

Then there's the food. Hot, tasty food, put in front of you 3x a day - nice, properly cooked and varied food. Food with choices. A much bigger range of food and better than any live-in carer could provide.

In a home they decorate for events, e.g. the Queen's birthday - I bet they all sat and watched it on the telly and homes will have had banners/balloons up and a party atmostphere.

3am walkabout? In a care home somebody's up and awake, they're able to talk to her, settle her down and get her to sleep again by 6am ... and it's not the same person that has to then cook her dinner and give her a bath the next day (while tired).

With a care home many people are doing many jobs simultaneously. It can't be done by a live-in carer.

Try to get to the bottom of her concerns and whether they're real or perceived. If real, work to getting her moved; if perceived then try to work with the home to minimise her distress.

NYM

Excellent post there PasturesNew

pmlindyloo

With all due respect to PasturesNew she has painted a picture of a perfect care home. Sadly, this is, too often, just not the case, particularly for people with dementia.

For a start there are far fewer homes specialising in this area and so you are often limited in your choice (even if you can afford the most expensive)

Staff are usually underpaid and overworked. Individual care is often just not available. Staff change often which can be very distressing for someone with dementia.

I have visited many care homes and have yet to find one which fits the rosy picture painted in PasturesNew post. I am sure there are some, but for those with dementia, the options can be limited.

We don't know the extent of the poster's aunt's dementia.

Just to give the other side of the picture. It is perfectly possible to live at home with support. And that is the key word both in care homes and living in your own home. Both are possible and both can be good as long as the support is there.

Rose in this video has that support:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGLBytHHg6Y

POPPYOSCAR

pmlindyloo wrote: »

With all due respect to PasturesNew she has painted a picture of a perfect care home. Sadly, this is, too often, just not the case, particularly for people with dementia.

For a start there are far fewer homes specialising in this area and so you are often limited in your choice (even if you can afford the most expensive)

Staff are usually underpaid and overworked. Individual care is often just not available. Staff change often which can be very distressing for someone with dementia.

I have visited many care homes and have yet to find one which fits the rosy picture painted in PasturesNew post. I am sure there are some, but for those with dementia, the options can be limited.

We don't know the extent of the poster's aunt's dementia.

Just to give the other side of the picture. It is perfectly possible to live at home with support. And that is the key word both in care homes and living in your own home. Both are possible and both can be good as long as the support is there.

Rose in this video has that support:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGLBytHHg6Y

I quite agree with this.


My aunt's mother was cared for at home by a live in carer and she got wonderful care.


She would be at family occasions and from what I could see, the carer was brilliant with her and they both seemed very happy.

elmer

But for 24 hour care you need at least 3 carers every 24 hours, not just one, and they won't be the same 3 every day as they need days off themselves.

margaretclare

I have tried doing this type of job, as a live-in carer.

It's not something I would wish on my worst enemy.