Carer or Personal Assistant?

[Dee16]

Morning All,
Have just joined the forum. Mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year and lives aline with her dog.
Wondering if anyone has any advice about to organise a regular assistant or carer for company, taking her to groups etc.
She's still quite independent but very anxious about going anywhere outside of her usual few places. I've been off work for a while and been able to take her to some groups like Singing for the Brain and she's loved them. But I won't be able to take her when I'm back at work.

Have applied for attendance allowance and an adult social care assessment but our family have absolutely no experience of carers etc and struggling to know where to start.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[SAP]

Hi @Dee16 , it can be quite overwhelming when you start out on this journey but there are many people on here who will be able to give you lots of advice so just ask away.
As far as care is concerned it will rather depend on what your mum actually needs and who will pay for it. If she is considered self funding ( has savings of over £23,500) then she will need to fund this herself. In this case the real issue will be finding a carer or company that has the capacity to take your mum out. Most only offer personal care but there may be others that can provide this. You could employ someone privately but that does come with quite a few technicalities such as insurance, national insurance, pension payments etc. There is something called direct payments but this is managed through social services and if your mum is self funding I’m afraid she won’t be able to access this.
If your mum is going to be reliant on social services to pay for this then they will fund personal care only for someone with dementia.
It might be worth talking with Age UK to see if they can advise on any local companion services

Age UK services in your area

Find out what services Age UK runs on a local level

www.ageuk.org.uk

Also for more information and advice for your family try Carers UK.

Support where you live | Carers UK

www.carersuk.org

 

[Gosling]

Hello @Dee16 and welcome to Dementia Support Forum. There is a considerable amount of shared experience of dementia to be found here, so I'm glad you have found us.
I am sorry to read of your Mum's Alzheimer's diagnosis. It is good that she is , at the moment, able to live by herself and is still quite independent.
You have already had good advice from @SAP regarding funding and the provision of care which I cannot really add to. All I would caution is, with an Alzheimer's diagnosis, now is the best your Mum will be, so getting in contact with Social Services now will get her on their radar at this early stage which will be a good thing.
Please do remember, members here are more than happy to give sound advice and suggestions so do ask away. You'll always find understanding and a listening ear

 

[try again]

Have you sorted out powers of attorney?

 

[Gosport Nancy]

Hi @Dee16 , it can be quite overwhelming when you start out on this journey but there are many people on here who will be able to give you lots of advice so just ask away.
As far as care is concerned it will rather depend on what your mum actually needs and who will pay for it. If she is considered self funding ( has savings of over £23,500) then she will need to fund this herself. In this case the real issue will be finding a carer or company that has the capacity to take your mum out. Most only offer personal care but there may be others that can provide this. You could employ someone privately but that does come with quite a few technicalities such as insurance, national insurance, pension payments etc. There is something called direct payments but this is managed through social services and if your mum is self funding I’m afraid she won’t be able to access this.
If your mum is going to be reliant on social services to pay for this then they will fund personal care only for someone with dementia.
It might be worth talking with Age UK to see if they can advise on any local companion services

Age UK services in your area

Find out what services Age UK runs on a local level

www.ageuk.org.uk

Also for more information and advice for your family try Carers UK.

Support where you live | Carers UK

www.carersuk.org

You explained this very well. I was offered one and a half hours a week of help with light housework from social services but as I am self-funding I would have had to pay the minimum fee of £90 a week. Apparently in Eastbourne people on means-tested benefits have to self-fund. Social services suggested their list of personal assistants and I picked one from there. Instead of £90 for one and a half hours of light housework, I now pay £44 for 2 hours weekly by paying a personal assistant for help with pretty much anything that I need help with. This could be any housework and cleaning, decluttering, transport and support for appointments, decorating and gardening. I wouldn't have got anywhere near this level of support from Social Services.

 

[maisiecat]

Hi,
In my area LA only pay for personal care in fact usually they just charge you but you can employ a companion carer privately. Its about £25 an hour so If your Mum was going to singing it would probably be a £50 cost. There also is a company called Seniors for seniors and they do taking people out shopping etc. I have no experience of using them but the person who recommended them had. If you go privatley just by your own advert you need to be aware that the DBS vetting may not have been done but lots of people are begiining to work for themselves in this area so a lot will have done their own DBS