Care home deferred payment

pollypenny

Angie, as I said before, enlist AgeUk for help. I've found them wonderful with both my parents and an aunt.

xylophone

On the Friday I called the council and asked to be put through to the financial department as I believe they have no idea of mums savings.

You said that she had been assessed and a care package put in place?
Were details of her savings not provided at that point?




At all events, surely it is the person/team responsible for your mother's assessment to whom you should be speaking - is the person who returns to work on Tuesday part of the team?

In any case, you are not responsible for paying your mother's expenses and you do not currently have any legal authority to deal with her affairs - really that's it and all about it and what you need to say to anybody who is pressing you to sign any document.

If you need support, as suggested above, telephone Age UK and explain your mother's situation - they may well send someone to discuss matters with you.

mrschaucer

Angie200963 wrote: »

I asked to speak to the women dealing with the case and was told she would not be back till Tuesday, and was told someone would call me back, but of course no one did. So I am fed up stressing myself running around after these people who supposed to have the best care of my mum at heart, and will now just wait for them to contact me.

I know the NHS need the bed and feel quilt for depriving them of it

You need to look after yourself in all this and don't allow yourself to be made unwell by the stress of it all.
Your mother is currently being well looked after, and that is the main thing at the moment. It is NOT your fault that she is still in hospital, you have been proactive in trying to contact people (I hope you are keeping a record of exactly what you have done/who you have spoken to/what you have been told), but clearly the situation cannot be as urgent as they would like you to believe as they haven't even got back to you as requested. You have no legal authority to act for your mother, as xylophone says, and if she has been assessed as needing to move from hospital to somewhere else then the team responsible for that decision will need to make it happen. That includes getting all the finance in place - WHICH DOES NOT INVOLVE YOU!
But do try and get some help from AgeUK etc as suggested many times.

Angie200963

Just an update, last night I went to the hospital and there was a letter addressed to next of kin sellotaped to the bed, on returning home I read it although it was all addressed to my mum, telling her she had been examined by doctors, physio, mental health team etc., the only one they left out was the cleaner, and mum was fit for discharge.

Today the adult social care rang asking me had I spoken to my solicitors I said they advised me not to sign anything on your mums behalf it was illegal. I explained this and told her I could not afford the extra £250 a week and apparently I had chosen the care home, when the first I heard about it was last week. She told me a financial assessment would be made by the council and this was requested on the 23rd Oct, but no one had contacted me yet. I told her with all the money my mum has why should I struggle until the court of protection came through and I explained I could not do it, then she told me I need to phone the ward sister about the letter.

The ward sister told me a place had been found in a home, she is physically well enough to leave to the home and they need the bed, another letter would be issued today, and from tomorrow my mum would be classed as a private patient and pay £300 a day for the bed, that would come out of her money once I had court of protection. They had me I would just have to sign the form and try to get a loan to cover the expense, and probably end up on “ Can’t pay we take it away”

So I called the adult social care back asking when I could come in and sign she told me, the council did not have to do an assessment as my mum has all that money in the bank, and they would pay the full cost of any home until the court of protection came. I just broke down the relief, all that stress I had been under for a week just because the adult social care worker could not do her job, I told her all about the savings at the first meeting, she even said the council was doing me a favour, when it was her panic and rush job trying to get my mum out.

I am so relieved and also very annoyed.

elsien

That is appalling behaviour by the ward - sheer bullying. Once you have the energy (and you have a 12 month timescale) then certainly consider a formal complaint both about them and the hospital social worker.

I'm glad you've finally managed to resolve things - I've never heard about people being charged as a private patient in those circumstances before and there is absolutely no obligation on you to get a loan to pay for anything. I suspect it came from misinformation from the original social worker and the ward believing you were being obstructive, rather than not actually having the legal authority to do what they wanted. But that doesn't mitigate the tactics that they were using. Did you by any chance get the person's name?

xylophone

Make a formal complaint in writing to the hospital manager and to the adult social care team manager.

elsien

Also to add, there will be an NHS complaints advocacy service in your ar a if you want support with a hospital complaint. If you do complain, don't go via PALS.

Robisere

Whist I appreciate the position you have been placed in through no fault of your own Angie200963, the real obstructions have been put in place by the government. Insufficient funding and repeated cuts to council funds and the NHS, have led to situations like yours. Hospitals are chronically short of beds. Councils have to juggle insufficient financial means to fund everything they are mandated to do. It helps no one to rail about the councils, and hospital staff, when they are themselves under pressure from above.

I truly hope that you have a successful conclusion to this problem. Having a close relative in a similar predicament, and being in my 70's myself, concentrates the mind. No one knows how their future is going to turn out and the fact the percentage of ageing population is growing, with all the medical and social problems that brings.

Nick_C

Robisere wrote: »

Whist I appreciate the position you have been placed in through no fault of your own Angie200963, the real obstructions have been put in place by the government. Insufficient funding and repeated cuts to council funds and the NHS, have led to situations like yours. Hospitals are chronically short of beds. Councils have to juggle insufficient financial means to fund everything they are mandated to do. It helps no one to rail about the councils, and hospital staff, when they are themselves under pressure from above.

Absolute rubbish. Nothing excuses poor management and putting people under this sort of unnecessary pressure. If the hospitals managed the situation differently, they could still get the same or better results.

This sort of political commentary belongs on discussion time, not here.

Angie200963

Thank you all again for the amazing advice and comments, once my mum is safely in her new home I will definitely be making a complaint against the social services, the NHS have enough to deal with and the staff were wonderful it was only the fact the social services where not doing their job that tied the bed up. I have been dealing with the social for three years now since dad died and they have been a complete waste of time, the only people any good were the nurses from the Mental health, it was they as well as me who was pushing for the care home this time.