Where to start for Nursing home ...

Kittykat74

Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask this...
I am asking on behalf of a friend who now lives in Australia, and is struggling with all of this.. 
His mother has been in hospital pretty much all year (was diagnosed with myeloma last year) unfortunately treatment is not working and over the past few weeks palliative care has been mentioned. She has pretty much been left in the same room for months and the quality of her life at the moment is poor. 
He does have a brother but he is also struggling and I think they just don't know where to start. The hospital say one thing, then another, and he can never speak to the same person twice.
I have said that it would be so much better for all of them if she could move to a nursing home, where she could be taken outside, eat decent food and just have a better last few months (I am not entirely sure how long). 
So the complication is she does have home (hers .. she was born in it) it would need a lot of work to empty and sell it fast and I am not sure this would really work.. The brothers are arguing over petty things and I think this is down to stress.

So how can they fund a nursing home for a few months now .. taking in the equity of the house (there are no unsecured funds). Are their solicitors that help sort this out (his Mother is still capable of making decisions but again needs guidance) They have not had much help from the local authority/local charities. Obviously the need is this needs to be all fairly fast.
I just want to point him in the right direction as someone just needs to get the ball rolling for them..
Thank you 

Misslayed

If palliative care has been mentioned, it may be that a hospice is the best place to be looking for? 

Sarahspangles

The key question is whether the mum is ‘medically optimised fit for discharge’. This is possible even where a patient is declining, but not if some of their treatment requires them to be in an acute setting, their condition isn’t stable, or they are too frail to stand the journey.

If she is fit for discharge, and is mobile or at least able to sit up for a while then a nursing home might be more pleasant, however she could also find she’s stuck in a room with less contact with nurses than she had in a ward setting.

Most hospitals have large numbers of patients who can’t be discharged because the care sector simply does not have capacity.  If a place can be found then the initial cost of care may be picked up by the local authority for a few weeks (it’s called ‘discharge to assess’) which allows time for payment arrangements to be put in place, or the LA will recover the unfunded costs later on from the estate.  

elsien

Hospitals have targets for delayed discharge. If the lady is still in hospital after that length of time it is likely to be for treatment reasons, lack of a bed space, or her declining the options, rather than due to a funding problem. 

As above, she could be fully health funded, in which case her care would be free or if she doesn’t qualify for that, the local authority would do a financial assessment and could do a deferred payment agreement once she’d left hospital. Funding is not going to prevent her from leaving hospital.

Does she not have any friends or other  family who could speak to her about what is going on and liaise with your friend? 

They may be better trying to track down the phone number for the hospital discharge team rather than the ward that she is on. Although if she has capacity, information should only be shared with her consent.

Savvy_Sue

It is definitely worth trying to find out whether it seems palliative care is indicated, and what life expectancy is, although it will only ever be a rough guide.

Because that will radically affect the funding situation and where to look.

Jowwie

In the case of my mother, she spent six months on a ward in hospital and then seven months in a room in nursing care. Hardly left the room in the care home. Not a criticism of the home, they did what they reasonably could for her. She much preferred the activity of the hospital ward and wanted to go back! In her case, despite being bed bound, social services advised she did not qualify for continuing care. The nursing fees were significantly less though because she was discharged directly from hospital to a council service provider nursing care home.

Social services should be involved by the hospital if there is any prospect of a medical discharge to care. They should explain options and funding. If mum is still making her own decisions though the family can only advise.

I agree that a hospice should be considered if palliative. Possibly you could contact one in the area and discuss the situation?

SiliconChip

You might want to contact one of the charities such as Macmillan or Marie Curie to ask for their assistance on the options and processes.

Kittykat74

Jowwie said:

In the case of my mother, she spent six months on a ward in hospital and then seven months in a room in nursing care. Hardly left the room in the care home. Not a criticism of the home, they did what they reasonably could for her. She much preferred the activity of the hospital ward and wanted to go back! In her case, despite being bed bound, social services advised she did not qualify for continuing care. The nursing fees were significantly less though because she was discharged directly from hospital to a council service provider nursing care home.

Social services should be involved by the hospital if there is any prospect of a medical discharge to care. They should explain options and funding. If mum is still making her own decisions though the family can only advise.

I agree that a hospice should be considered if palliative. Possibly you could contact one in the area and discuss the situation?

She has been stuck in an isolation room for 4 months .. no tv, awful food, so she is losing weight (obviously because she is ill but also dislikes the food!) I guess stuck between rock and a hard place! 

I don't think she is ill enough for the hospice to take her indefinitely. I am guessing months .. but know her son is too scared to actually ask..  

elsien

Palliative care doesn’t mean end of life is imminent. It means someone has a terminal diagnosis but could still carry on for a long time so does not necessarily mean that a hospice is appropriate.

https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/help/support/diagnosed/recent-diagnosis/palliative-care-end-of-life-care#:~:text=You%20can%20receive%20palliative%20care,receive%20palliative%20care%20for%20years.

 I think it’s important to clarify what you mean by her being in an isolation room. 

Does that just mean that she’s in a side room, or does it mean that she needs to be isolated because of the infection control risk with her treatment as that could well make a difference as to whether a nursing home is appropriate or not. 

I’d also query the no TV thing, because pay-TV is available in every room in the hospital I go into. It’s not cheap, but there may be reductions for people who are in for longer periods of time.

msb1234

in term in terms of funding, she may qualify for continuing healthcare funding which can be fast tracked for peopl who’s illness is terminal. Your friend needs to speak to the hospital social worker. All hospitals have them on the discharge team.

theoretica

If she has capacity now and has not appointed LPA(s) then that is probably urgent - to give her sons the power to act when she cannot. 

There are brokers who can help with lifetime mortgages/equity release.  It might be worth consulting with one so they are ready to take the loan out rapidly if they decide that is the best solution.