*URGENT* - Care Home fees and eviction threat

missusd

Post edited to protect family interests - thank you

pmlindyloo

Two separate issues here. Care homes fees and your gran's 'eviction'.

Both of these issues should be dealt with by social services. You need to be contacting them and ask for a designated social worker who you can communicate with. You need to be like a 'dog with a bone' remaining polite but insistent.

If your Gran has depleted her savings then she should be funded by the local authority. Is this being dealt with? What have they said about the house?

As regards the home if your gran is fit to be moved by ambulance then you may wish to consider moving her since the nursing home seems to be falling short of the correct care. Again, social services should be helping you with this.

Social services are the key to this.

Mojisola

missusd wrote: »

social services advised that once her savings were depleted to £6,000 they would be an assessment made for NHS funded care and they would contact us once this needed to be made - no one did.

NHS funded care is based on need, not how much capital you have!

Local Authority funding should have kicked in once her capital reduced to £23,250.

Read up the AgeUK factsheets on funding so that you understand the basics.

Pollycat

Mojisola wrote: »

Local Authority funding should have kicked in once her capital reduced to £23,250.

Does this still apply if she has a house worth £60k?

I'm on my phone & not great at Googling care rules (my Dad didn't have a house so I only know how he stood with funding his care).

Person_one

Gran's home will have to be sold to fund her care. That's how the system works, and after all she doesn't need it if she can't live in it any more.

As regards the 'eviction', is it worth examining yours and your family's conduct here? Care homes don't take that sort of action lightly or randomly. If you aren't happy with the home anyway is it such a bad thing? You can find one that you think will do a better job. They won't actually just throw her out with nowhere to go.

NHS funding is granted (basically) when people's needs are medical and nursing that need to be met by qualified staff rather than day to day care that can be provided by unqualified carers.

pmlindyloo

I am wondering whether there is some confusion over the assessment of your gran. There are basically 3 different types:

1. NHS continuing healthcare - this means that your Gran would be fully funded by the NHS for her care, and her capital, including the house, would not be taken into account. (Nursing Home)

2. NHS funded nursing care. The NHS fund the nursing part of the care and the rest is means tested. (Nursing Home)

3. Care in a residential home. (no nursing care) Means tested.

So, what kind of care has your Gran been assessed for?

Person_one

missusd wrote: »

We don't mind the home being sold - but who does this? Us or them? This is the confusion! Also in regards to our family's conduct, we have never and would never conduct ourselves in a manner that would cause any distress to the staff, the managers and most importantly, Gran. This manager has been there only 5 weeks and in that time we made a complaint because we asked a nurse to check if Gran was ulcerated because of her incontinence - she was crying saying she was sore 'down there' - she checked her and said there was nothing wrong, however after another week of this, family checked her and discovered she was severely ulcerated - we complained and demanded cream for her - they admitted cream had been actually prescribed by a doctor weeks before and it had been forgotten about!

I think this was sufficient enough reason to complain.

The problem we have with this funding issue is that we are being told by Social Services thather needs are medical therefore she must stay in Nursing care - then the assessment says they are not medical enough for funding, so they won't help, and the home are saying although she needs care and it is unsafe to move her, they are happy to evict her if we dare to voice our opinions!

To the bolded, yes, and it also seems like a good reason to get her into a better care home! You say she's in a care home so the staff are not actually nurses, but unqualified carers. That's why they are saying her care isn't medical/nursing.

Eviction won't mean they'll wheel her out to the pavement and leave her there, they will expect you to find another placement for her and then transfer her there.

As for her house, now that she doesn't have capacity has somebody applied to the court of protection to act as her deputy? If so, that is who will sell the house. If not, why not and who has been managing her finances?

Person_one

missusd wrote: »

A member of the family has applied now that we are aware of the situation regarding the finances but it takes months apparently. We are only just in the early stages of this. We were told by social services when she was admitted that once her savings depleted the costs would be funded - no question of anything else. We had no reason to think this wouldn't be the case until we were literally told by the home your cash has ran out and we need money.

There has been no money to manage because all her cash savings were handed over to the social services or local authority i believe for her care. Her pension etc is swallowed up by that too and she receives a small allowance for her personal effects. Family have been paying for the house payments such as insurance, council tax and water etc.

Once the deputy is appointed, they can sell the house. If it isn't worth a lot then the funds won't last long and then her care will be fully funded.

Have you read this guide? There is a lot of useful, easy to understand info on the Age UK website, they also have a helpline: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Factsheets/FS38_Treatment_of_property_in_the_means-test_for_permanent_care_home_provision_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true

Person_one

missusd wrote: »

We have also looked into moving her into a better care home but we have been advised that she is medically unfit to be moved.

Who has advised that? I thought you said she was unfit to go home, that's really a different thing altogether.

Person_one

missusd wrote: »

The nurse and manager at the care home advised us that she was unfit to be moved. We were going to take her home but they advised that due to her loss of consciounsness it was unsafe to move her at all. Even by ambulance.

I expect they meant that she was unsafe to go home, which sounds right tbh. Even with postural hypotension an ambulance transfer would be perfectly safe as she'd be lying down on a trolley the whole time and would have paramedics and possibly a nurse with her.

Is there a registered, qualified nurse at the home? Does the sign outside say nursing home or residential care home?

Person_one

missusd wrote: »

The home is just categorised as a care home - it offers care for nursing, residential and respite, and it specialises in dementia care.

Gran originally was admitted as palliative but i believe she receives nursing care because she is unable to self administer drugs etc and there is a registered nurse there.

That would not necessarily be a nursing need. If drugs are put into blister packs by the pharmacy then care home staff can give them.

I expect some confusion has arisen because there was originally a belief that she was near the end of life. Lots of people do qualify for NHS continuing care at that stage because they need continuous drug infusions and specialist nursing interventions for comfort. As that turned out not to be the case, she is still 'self funding' as her needs can be met by unqualified staff at present.

Have the family started looking around at new places yet?