Hi everyone,
we've had a couple of chaotic weeks as Dad announced that he can't cope any more and that Mum will have to go into a home. A SW came to assess Mum's condition and Dad's needs as a carer. She offered to arrange a weeks respite for mum - who flatly refused because she can't leave dad on his own!! The SW told me that she would make them a priority case but could only make the arrangements if mum agreed to it. I rang the next day and said that mum had changed her mind and would she go ahead with the arrangements. I hadn't even discussed it with my mum but my sister and I decided that giving dad a break was more important than mum's argueing and we'd deal with that when the time came.Sounds a terrible way to do things, doesn't it, but i do believe that we have done the right thing. The SW came up trumps! She rang me the same day and mum goes off for a week next Sunday, and she is trying to make it every 6 weeks. She then told me that it would be means tested but it was entirely based on mum's income and savings. A man came to do this last week and dad said the question was " what assets does mum have? The answer to that is her pension and a couple of hundred in the building society. He then asked to see dad's Home Contents Insurance Policy which dad couldn't find but gave him a rough idea of what it costs. A few calculations later and he announced there would be no charge for the respite care.
I'd be interested in other people's experience of means testing as the request to see the insurance policy strikes me as being a very under-handed way of seeing if they have any individual items of value, and what would have happened if mum did have something?
On an entirely different note I hope all you Mums are having a great day. I'm off to put my feet up and watch the rugby!
we've had a couple of chaotic weeks as Dad announced that he can't cope any more and that Mum will have to go into a home. A SW came to assess Mum's condition and Dad's needs as a carer. She offered to arrange a weeks respite for mum - who flatly refused because she can't leave dad on his own!! The SW told me that she would make them a priority case but could only make the arrangements if mum agreed to it. I rang the next day and said that mum had changed her mind and would she go ahead with the arrangements. I hadn't even discussed it with my mum but my sister and I decided that giving dad a break was more important than mum's argueing and we'd deal with that when the time came.Sounds a terrible way to do things, doesn't it, but i do believe that we have done the right thing. The SW came up trumps! She rang me the same day and mum goes off for a week next Sunday, and she is trying to make it every 6 weeks. She then told me that it would be means tested but it was entirely based on mum's income and savings. A man came to do this last week and dad said the question was " what assets does mum have? The answer to that is her pension and a couple of hundred in the building society. He then asked to see dad's Home Contents Insurance Policy which dad couldn't find but gave him a rough idea of what it costs. A few calculations later and he announced there would be no charge for the respite care.
I'd be interested in other people's experience of means testing as the request to see the insurance policy strikes me as being a very under-handed way of seeing if they have any individual items of value, and what would have happened if mum did have something?
On an entirely different note I hope all you Mums are having a great day. I'm off to put my feet up and watch the rugby!