Do councils have a deadline to relocate elderly people in nursing homes?

The_Walker

I'm currently trying to help my 80 year old mother relocate close to family since her husband died and she's left alone where she is without visitors. We've approached the council to have her relocated and a face to face meet went very well. But for the past two weeks we haven't been able to even contact our social worker or get a reply from anyone in the particular department to let us know where we stand.

This is frustrating, especially since I have found a suitable care home and made a visit to check it out personally. There are vacancies there currently. Her needs have been assessed already by the council, so that's done.

So how long does the process usually take? And it is normal to be completely ignored by your social worker and the department??

Help!

elsien

How is she being funded? Does she have capacity or is there a power-of-attorney in place?
I can only comment on the area where I work, but social services are under huge pressure at the moment, lots of social workers are leaving and they are having to prioritise. People who are safe are lower priority and two weeks is not a long space of time to be waiting for a response as things stand.

Is the place that you have found out of area because that also adds an additional complication?
if you’re not getting a response directly from the social worker, then try going through the duty number and contact them that way. You can also ask if the social worker is in work at the moment (mainly because a lot of them are going off sick with stress) and pass a message on that way.

ETA, I’m not as social worker myself, but I have a lot of contact with them in my job and people are going AWOL sometimes for quite long periods of time.
It is extremely frustrating, but it’s also the reality of our social care system as things stand.

The_Walker

Hi elsien, she funded primarily through the council with her pension adding to that. She has capacity and has been assessed as competent to make her own decisions. The relocation is to a different borough completely, but her current council maintains responsibility for her apparently, which at least keeps funding issues simpler maybe.

It's just so frustrating getting a wall of silence when I have done my part to help things along and researched nursing homes locally and found a suitable one with a vacancy.

I've tried the general line but the department doesn't answer the phone, though mostly we can't even get through to the reception desk even after a 30 minute hold time. So we are left without contact and have no idea where our allocated social worker is.

I have also emailed our social worker directly with all the details, but have had no reply to that either. We can be patient and understand they must be busy, but it's the lack of a courtesy response that distressing my elderly mother now.

elsien

Really, all you can do is just keep trying. And try and manage your mother’s expectations with regards to courtesy responses because to be perfectly honest, any response at all is bonus. 

The only other option is a formal complaint, but I would suggest it’s too early to be going down that route at the moment.

What did the social worker say about a move to a different borough at the face-to-face meeting? It’s not impossible. But authorities tend to have contracts within area and it can take a bit of arguing to get that out of area place which does cause additional delays as well. 

Keep_pedalling

The biggest issue is likely to be to get financial approval for the funding. In the case of my mother it took more than 6 months, and then it took a hospital stay and the input of of the hospital discharge team. 

The_Walker

During the meet, it didn't sound like a problem that she was moving to a different borough. I was expecting the new borough to take on the financial burden and to resist, but apparently she remains on the currently borough's financial bill. This is was a relief because as said, it does keep things simpler though a care home in the South may be more expensive than in the North where she is now.

elsien

No, she does stay the responsibility of where she is now. But have you checked that the costs of the place that you have found are within the limits of what they are willing to pay? 

The_Walker

elsien said:

No, she does stay the responsibility of where she is now. But have you checked that the costs of the place that you have found are within the limits of what they are willing to pay? 

I can't find out because the council aren't talking to me

elsien

Ah, ok. It would have been helpful if they’d given you some sort of guidance. Do you know what they are paying for where she is now because that will give you some sort of inkling. 

The_Walker

elsien said:

Ah, ok. It would have been helpful if they’d given you some sort of guidance. Do you know what they are paying for where she is now because that will give you some sort of inkling. 

Yes I believe it's very expensive, around 4K a month.

The_Walker

I've checked the dates and we've reached the four month mark since the first meeting informing the council she wanted to be moved. I'm trying to design a plan ahead to know what we're doing and maker her feel action is being taken. Should I wait till the 6 month mark before making a complaint? Or is that too soon, I don't know?