The cost of being self funding

missmarple

Registered User
Jan 14, 2013
204
0
I agree katek. Fundamentally it is unfair that a minority are awarded CHC and get everything for free, based on criteria which at the end of the day are arbitrary, ad most get nothing.
I would prefer it if everyone paid a bit, and got the rest of their care needs met through taxation. I say that even though my Dad is getting CHC (for now).
 

katek

Registered User
Jan 19, 2015
191
0
I agree katek. Fundamentally it is unfair that a minority are awarded CHC and get everything for free, based on criteria which at the end of the day are arbitrary, ad most get nothing.
I would prefer it if everyone paid a bit, and got the rest of their care needs met through taxation. I say that even though my Dad is getting CHC (for now).

Absolutely - that is the only fair way. My Dad also gets CHC, and so good is his care in an NHS unit (much better than the privately run home he was in previously) that we would willingly pay for food etc, but of course the current system does not allow that. To me it is such an obvious way of lightening the load for the NHS, but I don't know if it has ever been considered.
 

fr0d0

Registered User
Dec 23, 2009
186
0
Mid Wales
I have just sent an FOI to my local authority for something else. Initially they directed me to a section of the web that publishes previous request just to check the same question hadn't been asked before.

My question had not but I did come across this request which would be similar to yours so if you haven't already asked it may help with the wording and just to show that the information should not be restricted.:)

Fantastic. Thanks Pete. That's just over the border from me where the homes are indeed asking double for nursing home care, and the local authority are claiming without disclosing that the fees they pay are only a few pounds different and not worth challenging.
 

Avenger

Registered User
Oct 25, 2012
10
0
Thank you Katek and Missmarple for your replies and very useful comments. Long term care should, as you say, be paid for in our taxes and, if that's not enough, elements of the care, such as food, be charged extra. A rump of private care should be allowed for whoever wants it, and who can afford it. How about scrapping the Trident nuclear system and cancelling High Speed 2 to fund the care system? That's my idea to fast track public funding for care.
Now that the General Election is over, the next few weeks would be an ideal time to write to your local MP to complain about the high fees charged by private care homes, and the inequality between what self-funders have to pay and those who are covered by the local authorities. As I live in Wales, I have tried to draw in the Old People's Commissioner for Wales to look into unjustified high fees set by private care homes. Although the person in the Commissioner's Office I initially spoke to sounded worried about my case and that he would contact them to see if they could explain their annual high price rise, the result was disappointing to me as they did not follow it up after all. Instead he diverted me to Age Concern. Whilst Age Concern have been good to me with other queries, I thought this matter was more of a concern to the Commissioner, and it would have more clout. But he said that the Commissioner has more to do with querying the services and conduct of authority led homes, and less to do with private ones. I found that hard to take, since the majority of our elderly in the UK are in private care. However, I will be in touch with them again, and, of course, I will be writing to my MP.
 

katek

Registered User
Jan 19, 2015
191
0
Thank you Katek and Missmarple for your replies and very useful comments. Long term care should, as you say, be paid for in our taxes and, if that's not enough, elements of the care, such as food, be charged extra. A rump of private care should be allowed for whoever wants it, and who can afford it. How about scrapping the Trident nuclear system and cancelling High Speed 2 to fund the care system? That's my idea to fast track public funding for care.
Now that the General Election is over, the next few weeks would be an ideal time to write to your local MP to complain about the high fees charged by private care homes, and the inequality between what self-funders have to pay and those who are covered by the local authorities. As I live in Wales, I have tried to draw in the Old People's Commissioner for Wales to look into unjustified high fees set by private care homes. Although the person in the Commissioner's Office I initially spoke to sounded worried about my case and that he would contact them to see if they could explain their annual high price rise, the result was disappointing to me as they did not follow it up after all. Instead he diverted me to Age Concern. Whilst Age Concern have been good to me with other queries, I thought this matter was more of a concern to the Commissioner, and it would have more clout. But he said that the Commissioner has more to do with querying the services and conduct of authority led homes, and less to do with private ones. I found that hard to take, since the majority of our elderly in the UK are in private care. However, I will be in touch with them again, and, of course, I will be writing to my MP.

With the election result as it is, I don't envisage any major changes other than the 2016 Care Act coming into force. Scrapping Trident would indeed fund a great deal of free care but that is definitely not going to happen in the next five years!

However, the fact remains, as you say, that the huge discrepancies between LA funding and self-funding is still a big issue which needs to be addressed, and contacting your MP is a good place to start.
 

Avenger

Registered User
Oct 25, 2012
10
0
As I have mentioned, I will write to my MP expressing my views on the discrepancy of funding between state funded patients and self funders, and see what he has to say, and he's in the Conservative Party, the new ruling party. But I will also write to Liz Kendall of the Labour Party, the MP for Leicester West and whose national profile has increased during the past week since the Election, due to her announcing that she will stand to be Ed Miliband's successor as leader of the Labour Party. Liz Kendall has been, and still is, the Shadow Health Minister since 2010, the year she entered Parliament, and the following year she was given specific responsibility as Shadow Minister for Care and Older People. Whilst I haven't had the time to look in to what her views are about her portfolio I think it would be worth contacting her about care home fees and see if she has ideas about a fairer system, that might include a cap on fees, etc. Whilst the Labour Party are going to be in opposition for the next five years there are parliamentary committees of cross party MPs that work to draw up legislation and pass laws. Therefore, contacting any MP about this specific topic of care home fees can be worthwhile, and somebody like Liz Kendall, due to the position she's held for the last five years, could be influential. I realize that the path to resolve this issue is not a simple one, and, to be fair, not easy for the private care homes to change their ways either, at least for those among them who wish to exact a fairer system, but unless people like us make noises about it, then change will not come about.
 

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