Hi I wonder if anyone can give me any help or advice on this matter for a friend who is beginning to lose all will! - situation is her mum was sectioned under MHA section 3 (she is now off section with a 117 ready to kick in on discharge from hospital) was diagnosed with dementia and has been told that her mum will need to go into a care home and been told that she probably has a year left with her mum. At present friend lives a couple of counties away from where her mum lived and is currently in hospital. Friend is a single mum who works full time and is trying to visit mum every other day (as that is all she can manage although is desperate to visit daily). The issue has now arisen that care homes are being looked at but despite friends request that mum is placed in a home nearer her - homes are being looked at further afield which physically and financially will be nearly impossible to visit once a week if that. The LA is funding the home as neither friend or mum has any money available to fund this. Friend is only child so no one else can be there for her mum. Question really is - is there anything that my friend can do to try to get LA to listen about getting mum placed nearer her? They are saying she has 3 homes to choose from which are really far away from her. Sorry for the rambling but friend has been on phone to me in a right state and to be honest I am really worried about her. Thank you.
Care Homes and Family Ties
- Thread starter steph71
- Start date
Hi Jessbow, yes my friend was originally told she should find 3 suitable homes near her which she did but now they are saying that they will pick 3, then she can choose which 1 her mum goes to but they are all out of friends area.
It could be that your friend needs support in putting her point forcefully enough to the social worker, would you be able to go along with her to a meeting? It's not that she is useless, just very stressed and worn out, as you suggest in your post. I suspect that you would do this as you have already taken the trouble to come here. It would not be in her mum's best interest not to have visits from her only daughter, that could well be relevant in successfully getting a nearer home. I know other people on here have been successful in getting closer places for their relatives.
i think part of the new care act 2014 includes a section about who is responsible if someone under section 117 aftercare moves out of the area where they lived and were sectioned. Presumeably the local authority responsible for payment will not really know about the homes out of their area and it may be your friend lives in a more expensive area and that the local authority would be unwilling to pay the extra. The local authorities also do not always seem to know about their responsibilities under section 117 as it is fairly rare.
Nevertheless if your friend has power of attorney and has a history of supporting her mum then she should certainly have a say in this and should be invited to a section 117 aftercare meeting where her mums care is discussed. As the nearest relative she should have had notification when her mum was sectioned,do you know if this has happened. At the meeting or even before she can make her views known. Also under 117 i believe the rules have now changed in that her Mum can chose to pay a top up with her pension etc which she keeps , if what she is suggesting is more expensive. Whether she really has to I dont know, its a complex area, but it would be something the local authority may be happy to look at if it is a more expensive area. But please get your friend to take a google and investigate section 117 aftercare.
Nevertheless if your friend has power of attorney and has a history of supporting her mum then she should certainly have a say in this and should be invited to a section 117 aftercare meeting where her mums care is discussed. As the nearest relative she should have had notification when her mum was sectioned,do you know if this has happened. At the meeting or even before she can make her views known. Also under 117 i believe the rules have now changed in that her Mum can chose to pay a top up with her pension etc which she keeps , if what she is suggesting is more expensive. Whether she really has to I dont know, its a complex area, but it would be something the local authority may be happy to look at if it is a more expensive area. But please get your friend to take a google and investigate section 117 aftercare.
