My husband has severe dementia, has been self-funding for the past three years and his savings are now depleted to the level where I can ask for help from the local authority.
His care home is having major staffing problems so I've been looking at other care homes in case I need to move him but I am told either that I have to show evidence of being able to self-fund for a further two years or that I have to find ways to top up from the amount the local authority will pay - both of which are impossible.
Dementia nursing care in my area now typically costs £1300 per week, of which the NHS pay £154 for his Funded Nursing Care and the DWP pays £83 per week Attendance Allowance, which leaves me to find £1063 per week while he is fully self-funding or £650 plus half his private pension, all of his state pension, his attendance allowance and his FNC allowance if I were topping up from the maximum the local authority are willing to pay.
It seems we are trapped. I know that when I was first looking for a care home I was being asked to confirm that we could self-fund for twelve months and even that seemed dreadful. There seems to be no control over care home fees nor over their demands, even the ones which call themselves charities.
Is this common experience and has anyone found a way around it?
His care home is having major staffing problems so I've been looking at other care homes in case I need to move him but I am told either that I have to show evidence of being able to self-fund for a further two years or that I have to find ways to top up from the amount the local authority will pay - both of which are impossible.
Dementia nursing care in my area now typically costs £1300 per week, of which the NHS pay £154 for his Funded Nursing Care and the DWP pays £83 per week Attendance Allowance, which leaves me to find £1063 per week while he is fully self-funding or £650 plus half his private pension, all of his state pension, his attendance allowance and his FNC allowance if I were topping up from the maximum the local authority are willing to pay.
It seems we are trapped. I know that when I was first looking for a care home I was being asked to confirm that we could self-fund for twelve months and even that seemed dreadful. There seems to be no control over care home fees nor over their demands, even the ones which call themselves charities.
Is this common experience and has anyone found a way around it?