Paying for hip replacement

Murphybear

Hi

i am asking for one of the residents in our sheltered housing, she doesn’t use a computer.

She is on Attendance Allowance and gets council tax and all the rent paid.  She needs a hip replacement and as she doesn’t get out much has saved quite a lot.  She wants to pay for her hip op privately as the waiting list is so long.  My question is would paying for it be considered deprivation of assets?  Her savings have reached the maximum amount for claiming housing benefit.  

itsthelittlethings

I would doubt it but someone else more knowledgeable will hopefully be along soon. It seems very cruel if so.

Browntoa

I'd also suspect not , it's not been given away but used for a personal health benefit.

I think any council would have a hard time proving deprivation 

Brie

I agree that it's very unlikely to be considered deprivation as it's for her own benefit.  If she was using her money to pay for a hip replacement for a family member or a friend neither of which were her carer then that might be DoA.  

Does she know how much a hip replacement might be?  I had mine done about 5 years back and it was done through the private medical provided by my employer.  Final bill was about £13k.  I expect prices have gone up by now but perhaps they could let her pay on installments?

Murphybear

Brie said:

I agree that it's very unlikely to be considered deprivation as it's for her own benefit.  If she was using her money to pay for a hip replacement for a family member or a friend neither of which were her carer then that might be DoA.  

Does she know how much a hip replacement might be?  I had mine done about 5 years back and it was done through the private medical provided by my employer.  Final bill was about £13k.  I expect prices have gone up by now but perhaps they could let her pay on installments?

There is a small hospital not far away that was charging 11-12k about 3 years ago.  I’ll be doing some more research