I suppose this is a difficult question to answer, but mum is deteriorating very quickly and needs like I will need to decide quickly between 24 hour care at home, or a nursing home. The care at home will be a fair bit more expensive, but think you can claim some care allowances eg 1600 off £7000 bill. But then there’s all the other expenses for running the house to pay as well. Wonder if it’s worth it in terms of quality of care. I’m currently staying at my mum’s house and need to decide to go for either emergency respite or a 24 hour care arrangement. I guess I could go for the carers and then look at nursing homes in a more leisurely fashion if necessary.
24 hour carers at home vs nursing home
- Thread starter Talkinghead
- Start date
Live in careis not without its difficulties- and is eye wateringly expensive.
No one carer works 24 /7 - they have to have days/hoours nd mayb nights off
not sur how much you are expecting to pay- but dont forget you have employers tax & NI to deal with if you employ someone on top of theirwages
A home really s much easier on you
No one carer works 24 /7 - they have to have days/hoours nd mayb nights off
not sur how much you are expecting to pay- but dont forget you have employers tax & NI to deal with if you employ someone on top of theirwages
A home really s much easier on you
I feel that at least in a home someone will be there to look after her. With care at home what happens when carers are ill - I suppose with an agency they are meant to find cover but do they always. If you or another relative are living with her and could cover in emergencies it might work. She would also get entertainment and interaction with a wider range of people in a care home so it also depends if she would like that.
On the other hand if you have limitless funds and could afford to find a really good team of people who would reliably cover for each other she will almost certainly get a higher standard of care at home.
Sorry not answered your question but maybe given you somethings to think about. As previously said a care home would probably be easier for you to manage if you can find a good one.
On the other hand if you have limitless funds and could afford to find a really good team of people who would reliably cover for each other she will almost certainly get a higher standard of care at home.
Sorry not answered your question but maybe given you somethings to think about. As previously said a care home would probably be easier for you to manage if you can find a good one.
I have live in carers for my dad whilst my mum was in a care home and recently passed away. Out of both options, I personally feel a care home was better. There was always someone around to help my mum whereas the live in carers have caused both me and my dad a lot of stress. There is a lot more organising with live in carers whereas it is all done for you with a home. I would go with a home if it were me but my dad doesn’t want this
Thanks, that’s all very helpful. Care home probably would be easier. Live in carers would put a big dent in her funds. She could try respite care and see how she was. I more or less agreed to a 24 hour carer today, but it was very rushed, and haven’t met the person or had any in depth discussions about how it would work and how would finance it. I was just told it was £12 per hour which is £228 a day which is £6800 a month. We might get £1600 back in allowances. But then you still need to run the house. Social worker coming tomorrow to potentially arrange emergency respite, and this carer.
My husband and I have organised live-in care for an elderly friend. It is arranged through an agency and so the agency has to find carers to cover the regular carer’s breaks and holidays. The agency employs the carers and so we don’t have to deal with tax, NI, pensions etc.
When the costs of running the house and the carers’ subsistence allowance are taken into account it works out more expensive than the very expensive care home that our friend stayed in temporarily. If you employ/engage carers directly and don’t need relief carers to cover the carer’s breaks and holidays that should reduce the overall cost but there’s more responsibility and more for you to do.
With care at home there is still the house to run in terms of repairs, maintenance, gardening etc. The carer can give the tradesmen / gardener access but you will still need to arrange and direct the work and of course arrange payment.
Live-in care has other limitations. In particular, the carer needs to be able to get a reasonable night’s sleep with not more than a couple of interruptions at night. If the client won’t go to bed at a reasonable hour / gets up repeatedly at night / wanders at night then the standard live-in care package won’t cover that and a waking night carer would also need to be engaged which would make the care package extremely expensive. I don’t think that live-in care would work with a PWD who has very challenging behaviour.
We have found live-in care to work fairly well (so far) but it has involved quite a lot of input from me. Whilst our friend is obviously our priority we are responsive to any issues raised by the carers and the agency.
When the costs of running the house and the carers’ subsistence allowance are taken into account it works out more expensive than the very expensive care home that our friend stayed in temporarily. If you employ/engage carers directly and don’t need relief carers to cover the carer’s breaks and holidays that should reduce the overall cost but there’s more responsibility and more for you to do.
With care at home there is still the house to run in terms of repairs, maintenance, gardening etc. The carer can give the tradesmen / gardener access but you will still need to arrange and direct the work and of course arrange payment.
Live-in care has other limitations. In particular, the carer needs to be able to get a reasonable night’s sleep with not more than a couple of interruptions at night. If the client won’t go to bed at a reasonable hour / gets up repeatedly at night / wanders at night then the standard live-in care package won’t cover that and a waking night carer would also need to be engaged which would make the care package extremely expensive. I don’t think that live-in care would work with a PWD who has very challenging behaviour.
We have found live-in care to work fairly well (so far) but it has involved quite a lot of input from me. Whilst our friend is obviously our priority we are responsive to any issues raised by the carers and the agency.
You have miscalculated.
£12 an hour x 24 hours = £288 per day x 31 days in month = £8920 per month.
I'd also be aware that £12 a hour is cheap, athough may come cheaper 'block' booked ie for 24 hours.
You perhaps need to ask how many carers an agency supplie for 24 hours- My neighbour has 3
7am -3pm
3pm- 10pm
10pm- 7am
presumably the carer would have to pay tax &ni out of that 12 an hour ( or agency take their cut)- so pretty much minimum wage- you wont get experienced 'good' carers for that
It strikes me @Talkinghead that 24hr live-in care looking after someone with dementia who would otherwise be living on their own is performing the same function as a family member living with them 24/7.
As someone who is living with my OH 24/7 I can assure you that this arrangement will not work permanently. In addition to me being here all the time OH now needs carers coming in to help him wash and dress, I have a home help who comes in for two hours every week to do some cleaning and help with laundry, I am trying to find day care for him to give me a break, have already used respite in a care home for a couple of weeks and am planning regular respite for the future. I can foresee a time when he will need a whole team of people around the clock - not just me and a few hours of help during the week. Even if you have a rota of different people going in at different times during the day, that is still only one person at a time with them.
As someone who is living with my OH 24/7 I can assure you that this arrangement will not work permanently. In addition to me being here all the time OH now needs carers coming in to help him wash and dress, I have a home help who comes in for two hours every week to do some cleaning and help with laundry, I am trying to find day care for him to give me a break, have already used respite in a care home for a couple of weeks and am planning regular respite for the future. I can foresee a time when he will need a whole team of people around the clock - not just me and a few hours of help during the week. Even if you have a rota of different people going in at different times during the day, that is still only one person at a time with them.
My mum had live in carers for a year during the pandemic because I could bear to see her put in a home 300 miles away from where I live with no family near by. It was an emergency situation and the best of a bad job.I can’t fault the carers or the agency but my mum hated it. Fortunately she had a big enough property for them to give her some space but keep her safe. The cost was way more than a care home and then there are the hidden costs such as carers meals, extra for bank holidays and of course the carers need to get washed, clean their clothes, have their room heated, it all adds up. I also found I was being asked to deal with house maintenance as they didn’t get involved in that. Also and quite rightly , they worked 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off and had a 2 hour break every day. Mum found this too hard to deal with as the cover carers were often people she had never met before. It was quite stressful in some ways. Mum moved into a home near me in 2021 and it was so much easier for her to accept help and for me not to have to manage her property. It was considerably cheaper and we needed to sell her property for her continuing care anyway.
@SAP, your experience is similar to mine. If you use a reputable agency and don't want the live-in carer to be exploited then s/he will have daily breaks and weeks off which will necessitate a series of visiting and short-term carers, which is not ideal but probable unavoidable. And, as you say, lots of things can't be dealt with by the carers.
I should say that the working pattern in terms of weeks on and weeks off varies a lot from agency to agency and carer to carer. It all depends on the carer's personal circumstances. In my friend's case, the current live-in carer works many weeks and then has a long break of about six weeks. Some do work four weeks and then have a week off or six weeks and then two weeks off. it's very individual.
And it's extremely expensive. Few people can afford it because you need huge savings and / or a very high income.
I should say that the working pattern in terms of weeks on and weeks off varies a lot from agency to agency and carer to carer. It all depends on the carer's personal circumstances. In my friend's case, the current live-in carer works many weeks and then has a long break of about six weeks. Some do work four weeks and then have a week off or six weeks and then two weeks off. it's very individual.
And it's extremely expensive. Few people can afford it because you need huge savings and / or a very high income.
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Thanks so much for all the replies, food for thought. The 24 carer started-think one carer does 24 hours straight then they change. However, my mum had picked up a lot and by tea time apparently wanted the carer to go away, and they called to check they could leave. They were unable to provide day time care only. I went to visit today, and mum seems really bad again. Have 6 hours daily carers starting tomorrow. Think I will need to start looking at care homes near me.
And I did miscalculate!
And I did miscalculate!
