My mum has gone into a care home

[Confuse]

My mum was taken into respite 4 weeks ago for 2 weeks. She hated it and was so unsettled espeically at sun downer time. She managed to escape from the locked unit which I only found out today when a friend who works at the hospital told me. She was found wandering around the hospital trying to get out the door. The staff never mentioned it to me at all. Mum came home on Monday but got into a panic at going back intpo her flat and wanted to leave, she wanted to go to my house and sleep on my couch ( it was like this before respite). We had already set up a care home for her to try and eventually we got her there under a fabricated story of going to visit a friend. When we got into the home she tried to leave and said she would wait outside as it gave her a horrible feeling. I liked the staff but none of them tried to make her feel welcome and when they showed us to her room it was filthy , with half eaten food on the drawers. The room stank of dried urine too. The home is dark and old and seems incared for.As I had no choice but to leave her there for the night I went home to research other homes. Mum hasnt got more that £20 000 in the bank and doesnt own her own home. She is on pension and is topped up by attendance allowance and credit. There is a council run home in our town that is lovely but we have been told that her money coming in will not cover it as they have to give her £22 a week pocket money and the rest will cover costs but she would have to top it up by £57 a week. The home is sunny and bright and the staff are always smiling and welcoming. ( my aunt is in there). Social services havent suggested any other homes to us apart from the one she is in and when I asked they said thats it.
Mum rang me today crying to come and get her as she hates it , she said its so dark in there. I am so tired and feel so guilty for not being able to look after her. Her flat was always a clean light and airy place but no longer safe to live in as she was wandering and doesnt know anyone anymore. I dont have the space at home for her as I have 3 children and my husband and I at home. Maybe I can pay the £57 a week to keep her in the council run home. Sorry I just needed to rant

[TinaT]

Hello my love,

I send you my love and sympathy for the dark situation you are now in. The present care home is quite unsuitable, from your post there is no doubt whatsoever about that!

I would put mum into the council run care home and pay the 'top up' fee from her £20,000. When that money runs out the council will have to continue paying on her behalf.

The £20,000 is better spent on her and her needs right at this moment in time. A very harsh truth I know.

xxTinaT

[jenniferpa]

Confuse, I don't know who told you that you would have to pay an additional top up but I would regard that statement with a good deal of scepticism.

Has your mother had a financial AND a care assessment? You would think so given then she has been in hospital but you can never be too sure.

Look - I can't speak to her current home, but if it is really substandard and the only other option is the council run home but they charge more than the normal council rate (how does that work I wonder?) then the council HAS to pay that top up. It's all do do with her complete care needs - not just a bed and food, but her right to live in the least restrictive environment.

There are some fact sheets here
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/sc...documentID=125
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/sc...documentID=153

Note - she's not actually allowed to pay any top-up from her own assets but I would contend that there should not be a top-up at all.

[Bob S]

The trouble with top ups is if you agree to make them then you will be liable for them. The experience that people have is that they will go up year on year, often well above inflation, and in the current economic situation I have no doubt councils will reduce their funding and expect more from the top ups.

Beckhux posted some very good information about paying top ups and the circumstances when they are payable and I would suggest you do a search and read the advice contained, it will be very informative.

[TinaT]

I do know in my husband's council run care home, that 'top up' fees apply! There are also 'self funders' in his care home. I would think if you have power of atturney or whatever the current term for legal permission to pay out of her assets, that a top up fee might be allowed from her own assets although I believe that the limit is £23,000 in personal assets before the local authority can touch this.

xxTinaT

xxTinaT

[Saffie]

According to all the literature I have read on the subject (Age UK is to hand right now) 'Top ups' cannot be paid from the resident's own funds. They have to come be paid by a relative, or, at leat, somebody else. If they come from the resident's own funds, they are self-funding, whether fully or partly with SSs.

I am surprised that the LA home is not covered by SS payments. Every other home around here requires Topups, but although my husband is self-funded in an LA home at present,the fees will eventually be taken over by SS - with his pensions being taken as part payment of course.

[JPG1]

Confuse,

Before anyone moves from 'home' or from 'hospital' to a care home there has to be an assessment of 'needs' and that must come long before any assessment of the finances involved.

Your Mum should, first of all, have an assessment for fully-funded NHS Continuing Healthcare (NHS CHC). That comes before any other assessment. And it comes with you being fully involved and contributing to it. Only once you are happy that you have exhausted that process, which begins with a Checklist, and then may move onto a full assessment, should come the next assessment. Part and parcel of that assessment for NHS CHC is, of course, a full assessment of her 'needs'.

If it turns out that your Mum is not eligible for CHC, then and only then comes the financial assessment.

I'm not quite sure who has told you that an additional payment of £57 is required - was that the Care Home? Or was that a Social Worker? Because that 'sum of money' only comes way down the so-called food chain, if you pardon the expression. (I don't like it either, but it seems to be the acceptable way to describe some things.)

If you have been told that your Mum will only be allowed to retain £22 of her pension etc., it sounds as if someone has already done a financial assessment. But yes, that £22 is accurate. If your Mum does not own her own home (which could be sold to pay care home costs), but has £20,000 savings, then she is able to hold on to £14,250 of that £20,000.

I "think" the calculations would mean that your Mum would be required to pay about £23 per week, or £1 for every £250 over the minimum of £14,250. But only until such time as her savings run down to £14,250. Then her care costs would be fully funded by the Local Authority.

Your Mum is not allowed, legally, to pay a top-up herself, from her own savings. (That is allowed only under specific circumstances, and I don't "think" that your Mum comes into that bracket.)

That is why 'family' are called upon sometimes - but totally illegally often - and are then 'blackmailed' into paying top-up fees. Please resist this. As Bob said, they can rocket sky-high in a short space of time. In any case, there's no obligation on you to pay top-up fees. And your Mum is not allowed to pay them herself. So do not agree to that, and do not sign to say that you will be liable for top-up fees.

Also, there is no such thing as a 'council normal rate'. The assessment of needs determines the amount that a local authority must pay towards care that meets those 'assessed needs'. And if there is no care home available - and suitable to meet the assessed needs - that costs less than that 'assessed needs rate', the local authority has to pay for a more expensive care home.

The LA is responsible for providing a care home that meets your Mum's assessed needs - and if that costs the LA, so be it.

Here's a link to BeckHux's good news success story, when she challenged the whole area of top-up fees.

http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showt...fees-good-news

Good wishes, and stay strong - your Mum will be secure in the care home that you find acceptable for as long as you find it acceptable. (Agreed, don't touch the stinking care home a very long barge pole!)