Advice please - Care home closing in two weeks!

wazzer

Registered User
Jun 4, 2008
112
0
North west England.
Hi
My mother has been in a Residential Care Home for the last six years and has final stage AZ. At four o'clock today I received a phone call from SS stating that due to unresolved issues within the Care Home not being resolved ( of which I am not aware of ) the owner has decided to close the home in two weeks time.
I have got a urgent appointment arranged with SS for tomorrow morning but can I ask the following questions:-
Do SS have to supply me with a list of Care Homes that they do fund in my area?
If I have to go outside my area then do my local LA have to fund the cost of the care home?
If anybody has been through this experience I would be grateful for any help.
 

Pickles53

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
2,474
0
Radcliffe on Trent
Hi
My mother has been in a Residential Care Home for the last six years and has final stage AZ. At four o'clock today I received a phone call from SS stating that due to unresolved issues within the Care Home not being resolved ( of which I am not aware of ) the owner has decided to close the home in two weeks time.
I have got a urgent appointment arranged with SS for tomorrow morning but can I ask the following questions:-
Do SS have to supply me with a list of Care Homes that they do fund in my area?
If I have to go outside my area then do my local LA have to fund the cost of the care home?
If anybody has been through this experience I would be grateful for any help.

I can only help with your second question, as I wanted my mum to move to a home nearer to me rather than stay in her local area. I was advised that the LA could fund an 'out-of-area' place if mum's needs could best be met that way. In her case the need for family to be able to visit would have been an acceptable reason. I think therefore if you want to go outside your area you would need to be able to justify why your mum's needs could not be met in any in-area homes.

I would certainly expect LA to provide a list of homes with vacancies as this is an urgent situation and you can't afford to waste time visiting homes which have no beds available.
 

Wirralson

Account Closed
May 30, 2012
658
0
LAs are not normally permitted to supply lists of homes. This is to avoid accusations of commercial bias. However, there are other apects here.

The question is partly decided by who is paying - is it the LA or is your mother self-funding? If the former, the LA (strictly speaking) is automatically responsible for finding an alternative home.

If the latter they can still make an emergency placement. Technically your mother is classed as a "vulnerable adult". This means that as she would otherwise be without a safe place to live, they can (and should) place her elsewhere, possbly temporarily, but she remains self-funding. As such that would involve whoever administers her funds (Deputy or Attorney).

W
 

Pete R

Registered User
Jul 26, 2014
2,036
0
Staffs
Do SS have to supply me with a list of Care Homes that they do fund in my area?
If I have to go outside my area then do my local LA have to fund the cost of the care home?
If anybody has been through this experience I would be grateful for any help.

Sorry to hear of your problems, my Moms Home ceased Nursing care so I had to find somewhere else and it can be difficult especially with time constraints.

Yes the LA should provide you a list of all homes in your area and also a list of the homes they will fund. However with the New Care Act that may have changed and they should not now have a fixed budget for all (But I suspect they still do).

The LA can fund outside of their area (they do for my Mom) but will normally only pay their fixed rate if they have somewhere in their own area that can cater for your Mom.

The LA where my Mom moved to pays £50/week more than the old one who will not match it.

Good luck with the search.:)
 

Pete R

Registered User
Jul 26, 2014
2,036
0
Staffs
LAs are not normally permitted to supply lists of homes. This is to avoid accusations of commercial bias.

My LA produce a list of all homes in their area and those on neighbouring boundaries.

They also provided me with, what used to be called, their "A" List of homes that could accommodate my Mom within their budget.

I thought all LA's did this.:confused:
 

Pickles53

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
2,474
0
Radcliffe on Trent
My LA produce a list of all homes in their area and those on neighbouring boundaries.

They also provided me with, what used to be called, their "A" List of homes that could accommodate my Mom within their budget.

I thought all LA's did this.:confused:

I thought so too. My LA have a full directory of homes on their website including the quality rating from their own assessment. Also lists the LA funding rate which is higher for homes with higher quality rating. Not sure how they could be accused of bias if all homes are in the list, as they are not recommending any particular home or giving preferential treatment.
 

Pete R

Registered User
Jul 26, 2014
2,036
0
Staffs
I thought so too. My LA have a full directory of homes on their website including the quality rating from their own assessment. Also lists the LA funding rate which is higher for homes with higher quality rating. Not sure how they could be accused of bias if all homes are in the list, as they are not recommending any particular home or giving preferential treatment.

Would you mind sending me a link (via PM) to the site. My LA do not believe in such openness and I would like to see how the differing rates work.☺
 

Beate

Registered User
May 21, 2014
12,179
0
London
Openness or not, if you are given two weeks' notice about care home closure and she is LA funded, they have a duty to find her another place ASAP. It wouldn't hurt to make enquiries into care homes yourself though, especially if they are dragging their feet - don't forget that everyone else in that care home will need another place too and will be competing with you for the best options.
 

Wirralson

Account Closed
May 30, 2012
658
0
My LA produce a list of all homes in their area and those on neighbouring boundaries.

They also provided me with, what used to be called, their "A" List of homes that could accommodate my Mom within their budget.

I thought all LA's did this.:confused:

They are all obliged to maintain a register of ALL the homes in their LA area. What they can't do is give out a selective list (which is what I understood the poster to be asking for). On the other hand almost all that information is publicly available in any case. Doing a postcode search on a commercial site will throw up a list of homes quickly.
 

Wirralson

Account Closed
May 30, 2012
658
0
This was the question.....

And the answer to that is "Yes" they can give a selective list of the care homes they will fund.

It depends what you mean by "selective". They can state their expected to pay rate (indeed they are obliged to) and any homes that fall within it or take individuals at that rate - that is information that LASs by definition hold and can therefore be obliged to supply under Freedom of Information legislation and some LAs take the step of publishing that. But they are precluded from advising individuals on providing specific homes in a manner or being selective in implying that one home is better than another.

W
 

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