Financial Assessment

[MothersCarer]

Mum is now in a care home having been dragged through the NHS system of local ward (while she was delirious) after a fall resulting in a broken ankle; moved to rehab unit in small hospital some distance away then moved to a Local Authority home which does no long term care but looks after people for short stay/respite care, day care, interim care and rehabilitation up to a maximum of six weeks. Mum was there for a couple of days over the six weeks and was then moved to her current care home.

In a way my worries about the assessment are about things I just don't know. Will she be charged for the six weeks of interim care? Will I have sufficient paper work and answers? What will be charged for the new home; if they are expecting a top up there is no one who can pay. When we have realised her assets she will have a little over £23,000 and be able to pay for what I believe will be a few months. If there is a top-up (I did make it clear there was no one who could pay this) will they move her?

I know my high levels of anxiety are because I am at a bit of a low ebb and my darling daughter has tried to help (she is working and cannot be there and has already given up time she doesn't have). Her advice is 1. Do not apologise - you are there to be informed not to know already and 2. Don't offer extraneous information; ask open questions such as where, what, when and how ones. She is right as I do start to rabbit when I am anxious but I have also felt swept along by already made decisions in some of the meetings I have been in. So far those decisions were what we felt were in mum's interest but I don't feel very trusting about "top-ups" etc., having been put, I feel, in as position where we had no choice but to pay them for mum's care at home.

Is there any advice you can offer? Thank you all.

 

[marionq]

Only your Mums assets should be considered. If you wanted a bigger room or more expensive home then you could pay extra but no one has the right to expect this. If you are overwhelmed you could ask for an advocate to speak for you in meetings. I think one of our members might advise you on that.

 

[nitram]

Will she be charged for the six weeks of interim care?

The up to 6 weeks of free care is designed to rehabilitate the person to the state they were in before an acute event
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/socia...ter-illness-or-hospital-discharge-reablement/

Increasingly this is being refused to people who are deemed to be too ill to be rehabilitated.
It could be that the move to the care home was because they considered she could not be rehabilitated
You will have to ask how much of the time was considered to be reablement.

Does your Mum have capacity?
Does anybody have LPA (lasting power of attorney)?
Don't sign any documents about the care home without careful reading and taking informed advice.

 

[MothersCarer]

I have financial Power of Attorney Nitram, which is why I feel I should be able to sort this. I don't think we had any doubts that mum about mum's lack of ability to manage at home on her own - perhaps with 24 hour care but that was never going to happen. I was looking into what increased help she could have before she had the fall. I think, once I have heard what they have to say - instead of imagining the worst - it will seem more easy to handle.

I keep saying it but it is so important - thank you all for being here.