Fee Rebate

[Natashalou]

Can anyone advise on how the rebate for the nursing element works? When my mother went into a nursing home 2 months ago, I filled in forms for this to be assesed and thought it would happen automatically.
Still nothing has happened and she is paying full fees despite being so frail, when I asked at the home all I was told is "nobodys been yet"
Am I wrong in thinkin the home do this assesment? Who does and how would I organise it?

 

[noelphobic]

The home does not do the assessment themselves. Someone from the PCT should do it. We wanted to be there when my mum's assessment was done but weren't informed until after the event. However, when we enquired about this we then had a meeting with the person who had done the assessment. I don't actually remember filling in any forms.

Did your mum have a Social Worker or CPN before going into the home? Maybe you could get in touch with them.

This factsheet gives information on the assessment process

http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/Caring..._and_nursing_care/info_nursingassessments.htm

 

[Natashalou]

I see

this is a bit difficult then, as she was sent to the home in london from West Sussex so all her records are there. I really wish i had left it all for them to sort out and find her a home in that area now. I suppose I have to get in touch with the council, more expensive and time consuming phone calls and months of beaurocracy.

 

[noelphobic]

Have you managed to find anything out about this yet Natashalou?

 

[jenniferpa]

OK I have a question. I've looked at the Alzheimer's fact sheet and one question I have isn't answered. It says:

Do I have to do anything?
No. The health authority will automatically arrange an assessment. The money will be paid straight to the care home.

Well what do you do when this DOESN"T happen? The home my mother's in is a "with nursing" home so that box is ticked, I've looked at the guidelines and there's at least a possibilty that she might qualify. So who do I contact (in a general sense) to arrange this? Any ideas? PCT or what? What exactly does "health authority" mean in this case?

Jennifer

 

[noelphobic]

I think it is the PCT Jennifer.

 

[Natashalou]

Kind of

Have you managed to find anything out about this yet Natashalou?

Well, kind of but its still as clear as mud.
After I posted I went to the councils website and I actually found a helpful link to request an assesment on line!
I filled in all the details, and was even more encouraged when I got a call the very next day from the older peoples team.
I gave all the details again, but the outcome was I had to ask the home to get in touch with them!
I havent had a chance to go to the home yet to ask them but they had been my starting point and hadnt seemed to have done anything although I had spoken to them when mum first moved in.

 

[Natashalou]

update

Well, as i suspected battle has commenced. the home had, they assured me, faxed the forms to Social Services, but would do so again. i waited another week and called to be told there was no record of any forms, or even of my mother existing, which was very odd when the week before i had been assured her name would be added to the database.
They promised to get in touch with the "other" central office ( I was speaking to the local office near the home).
suddenly it seemed yes, mums name was there after all but she hadnt been allocated to anyone and nobody was going to be visiting.
So, I asked, how could I get this process started?
I was given yet another number to call, and ths time the admin officer was very helpful, she would speak to the manager and to the home.
She called me back to say she still needed to speak with the manager but it seemed very unlikely they would do "anything" as mum had come from West sussex.
Im not very optimistic the Sussex are going to be very helpful either as they washed their hands of her as soon as they found they could get rid of her up here.
On another note, attendance allowance claim which I made for her in January still hasnt been assesed...

 

[jenniferpa]

According to yhis http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publication...ions/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4002953
"NHS funded nursing care in nursing homes - what it means for you: a guide for people living in or going into nursing homes, their families and carers"

When a potential resident plans to move into a care home providing nursing care in
another PCT or local council area which PCT is responsible for paying for the nursing
care?
A. Essentially, access to NHS funded nursing care is via the Primary Care Trust that an individual is registered with for GP services. This aligns responsibility for funding NHS funded nursing care with other NHS services and is the basis for allocating NHS funding between PCTs on a commissioner basis. Care homes providing nursing care should encourage their residents to register with a local doctor so that they may access the full range of NHS services and prescriptions.

So it would be the PCT where she is now. The only time the council of her "old" residence would be involved is in these circumstances:

When a potential resident plans to move into a care home providing nursing care in
another PCT or council area from where they currently live and needs local council
funding which local council will be responsible for assessing the care needs and paying
the home?
A. The council where a person lived prior to moving into a care home continues to have responsibility for funding community care costs (the “ordinary residence” rules).

Note: this is for council funding (i.e. someone who has savings below the threshold). The nursing care contribution which I believe you are talking about comes from the PCT.

Have you contacting the PALS department of your PCT? I have found them to be quite helpful.

 

[Natashalou]

no

I havent contacted anyone else. I dont think I have the energy to bother, Im too busy, and it is just too complicated. I cant make calls from work simply because we cant use the office phones for private calls and for some odd reason there is no mobile phone service in the building.
This means any day (like today) means time off work going in late etc and Im unpopular enough there already through taking so much time off!!
At the end of the day its her money not mine and Im so sick of her accusations of theft etc Im handing back the EPA to the public guardianship office.
I still dont fully understand what all the forms I filled in provided by the home were about, but again because the administrator is always so busy (understandably) I havent really pinned her down to get to the bottom of this.
the reality is, I suppose, I just dont have the fortitude so many of you seem to display!! I dont WANT to be responsible for this rude, unpleasant nasty old woman who is my mum. Some of this may well be her condition, but a lot is just an exaggeration of how she has always been, and maybe she will do better with people who arent emotionally involved with her dealing with her.
I cant, xx

 

[Nell]

Dear Natashalou,

{{{HUGS}}}

 

[Clive]

Hi Natashalou

I do understand where you are coming from. I do hope you can find the energy to keep fighting for what you know is right.

My position is not that different from yours.

Mum needed to go into an EMI residential home for her own protection due to Alzheimer’s. (The consultant said so).
Social Services never turned up to see mum, so mum was never assessed at that time. (We knew we would not get any financial help from Social Services so we were not too bothered). A few weeks later we moved mum to another EMI Residential Home close to her daughter which is in a different health authority. We eventually found out via the local PALS who to contact at the local PCT, and got a form to ask for an assessment. A person from the PCT immediately rang me to say that if we wanted to claim NHS funded continuing care we would have to apply to the PCT where she had resided before going into the first EMI home. However, after a discussion it was said that if we only claim from that day, I could make the application to the PCT where her current EMI home is… which is what we did. (Though they do not like the idea of an EMI residential home as they think mum should be in a EMI Nursing Home to qualify).

I sent off the form in February and was told there would be a significant delay as so many people were claiming. I checked up last month and was told that the lady who I had spoken to had left and it would be a few more weeks before my claim would be seen to, but I should not worry because if I am successful mum will be paid from the date I applied.

Really it is not good enough but what can we do.

I have already been talking to my MP about the position and I intend shortly to simple ask him to sort it out for me… and see what happens.

Keep going Natashalou.

Best of luck

Clive

 

[Natashalou]

thanks

for everyones support. On a practical level, things are a bit better. social services will be visiting mum in the next 28 days which if nothing else I hope will give me a professional endorsement that she is in the right place.
the administrator at the home who I finally got to see today, assured me the forms I had filled in WERE for the funding, and that she had faxed them through and she would chase them up because the assesment ought to have been done by now.
So all in all things are coming together.
On an emotional front of course they remain difficult. I saw mum for the first time since Sunday and you would think I hadnt been there for a year. Also complaining bitterly my children hadnt been there either, which they havent because they are tired of her too !
As Jon said
"I would go and see Granny, but she is always , you know, mean and nasty to me!"