Care home discussion on Good Morning Britain

[SnowWhite]

There's been an eastenders actor on TV discussing his mother who died last week. She had Alzheimer's and Lewy body dementia. They cared for her at home for several years and then they had to sell her house to go into care.

He was very upset that she died almost penniless as she worked so hard every day of her life. There was also a lady on with him from (I think) a Care organisation. She said she had been through the same with her Mum.

She explained that if you were self funding you had to pay approx £700 a week whereas people who were funded were only charge £460ish.

The actor was very keen to work with her to look into this and they shook hands on it so you never know!

 

[Kevinl]

I can't see how it can change unless the homes refuse to accept people who are LA funded which some do already or will require a top up, not many places take people at the LA rate and no more.
There are 2 people in care with my wife who are LA funded and I know from speaking to relatives that they're both LA funded because their house has been sold and all the money used to pay for care. If you live long enough in care most people will end up LA funded, the average price for a terraced house (in my postcode) is £126,000 that doesn't pay for more than about 3 years of care.
My mother owned her own house but 3 of her siblings never owned a house, they were council tenants all their lives, one paid rent to the council for over 50 years then when he did go into care the LA got their house back, that's twice as long as my mum paid a mortgage for and she owned the house.
There are some homes that are run as not for profit charities and some that are LA owned but their prices are similar to the private sector in my experience.
A recent newspaper article said that in care 120,000 people self fund and 170,000 are LA funded so the care home's biggest customer is the state, it never gets mentioned how much the state gets back by taking pensions and benefits from those it is funding.
The problem is what's the option, can't self fund so you're out on the street or if your money runs out they kick you out?
K

 

[ellejay]

not had the opportunity to work hard to buy and run a house, just didn't want to, or prefer to rely on the State.

Of course, with zero hours contracts & minimum wage, no matter how hard you work a mortgage will be beyond the reach of many.

Lin x

 

[Selinacroft]

Only £700! The place I've just booked Dad into for respite is £170.00 per day!

 

[Beate]

Some people are lucky to somehow having amassed enough money to pay care home fees for many years. It hasn't got much to do with how hard you work though, and I resent the idea that people who are not self-funding have somehow been scroungers all their life. My OH has worked very hard all his life, but never in very well-paid jobs. He deserves a good care home once he needs one just as the next person. It's not his fault how the government deals with social care provisions. And as Kevin pointed out, a lot of people start out self-funding but end up being state-funded due to their money running out, and none of them like having to change to a cheaper care home either.

 

[SnowWhite]

Some people are lucky to somehow having amassed enough money to pay care home fees for many years. It hasn't got much to do with how hard you work though, and I resent the idea that people who are not self-funding have somehow been scroungers all their life. My OH has worked very hard all his life, but never in very well-paid jobs. He deserves a good care home once he needs one just as the next person. It's not his fault how the government deals with social care provisions. And as Kevin pointed out, a lot of people start out self-funding but end up being state-funded due to their money running out, and none of them like having to change to a cheaper care home either.

That is true Beate. My Dad always worked but was on low wages. Mum worked part time. Every penny was accounted for and neither parents smoked or drank and we never had holidays. There was never any money left TO save. We lived in a council house and when my Dad's brother died they bought their council house and got a huge discount as they did lived in it for years and years. Mums savings are now well below the threshold and the house is on the market. She is sad that she will not be able to leave us anything but I have assured her I'm more concerned that she gets good care now.

 

[eddiesgirl]

Yes its well known that the self funders are not only paying for themselves but for others who have either not had the opportunity to work hard to buy and run a house just didn't want to, or prefer to rely on the State.

Sorry, have to take issue with you there. Both my parents worked very hard to pay the rent and run our very modest household. I can tell you that buying a property was never an option for them.

I understand your frustration, but less of the glib dismissiveness please.

 

[Kevinl]

I'd be interested to know how LA funding is split between men and women.
I know the women/man split in my wife's unit is pretty much 2 women to each man. Women live longer and so are more prone to AZ and they're also likely to be less well off financially.
Women have (and still are) on average paid less than men, more likely to have career breaks to bring up children so have lower lifetime income and smaller pension pots. Way more women end up as single parents than men which can't help their income either, whether it is due to becoming widows or getting traded in for someone "slimmer and dimmer" something which is becoming much more common in older people these days so I've read.
They also are much more likely to have stopped work to care for elderly relatives...so for any number of reasons I would imagine women are likely to end up partly or fully funded by the LA than men. Living longer too means their money is more likely to run out than a mans too.
I'm not attempting to justify the huge difference between the LA rate and the self funding rate just the impact it could have on women if homes stop taking LA funded residents in the future.
K

 

[onlyme1]

Good point Kevin about how much people pay towards their LA funded places. My dad pays 3 times what mum does as he has 2 works pensions. They're each allowed to keep about £25 per week.

 

[AlsoConfused]

Often it's the sale of a PWD's home that means they're self-funding. The number of people who can afford to buy a home (even with family support) is dropping fast - it's gone down by 5% in only a few years - so far fewer people will be able to self-fund even at the earliest stages of their accommodation in care and nursing homes. Initially I'm sure government, social services and the NHS will try even harder than now to keep as many people as possible out of residential care, no matter what the risks they take with vulnerable persons' safety.

The Labour manifesto has addressed social care issues though there's not much detail yet. I'd imagine the LibDems would come out with something interesting too (Norman Lamb, ex Minister for Health in the Coalition government, is working very actively on NHS and social care policies). I'm less hopeful about the Tories ... but maybe they'll surprise me!

 

[Beate]

Some people work hard and have something to show for it.
Some people work hard and have nothing to show for it.
Some people don't work hard and have nothing to show for it.
Some people don't work hard and have something to show for it, ie inheritance, lottery win or other means. That's called luck.
And sometimes it's even a combination of working hard and being lucky.

I don't know why you think that I meant your parents' personal circumstances in any of these scenarios. It was a general statement.

However, I doubt that many people actively want to rely on the state. People can be hard on their luck for all sorts of reasons, including illness. Still, they have the same right to social care. How care homes charge them is not up to them, whether we find it unfair or not.

 

[jenniferpa]

The moderating team have decided to close this thread as it has run its course.