Nursing home costs!!

Trini

Registered User
Dec 7, 2015
39
0
MIL going into a nursing home tomorrow. Long story - emergency - no choice - may be short term measure while we sort out an alternative. We have been shocked at the cost. £1500 per week. If she stayed there we would have to sell the house before the year was out. It would be cheaper to employ two live in carers! She has had one live in carer for the last year but now requires a hoist and needs two people to operate. Apparently a ceiling mounting hoist only needs one person so thinking we should have this fitted and go back to live in carer route. Does anybody have any experience or any advice to offer?
 

LadyA

Registered User
Oct 19, 2009
13,730
0
Ireland
From reading on here, that cost seems about average depending where you live. I assume your MIL is self funding? In which case (unless your FIL is still living in the house), the situation would be that her savings and assets, including the proceeds of the sale of her house, would be used to fund her care.
 

Katrine

Registered User
Jan 20, 2011
2,837
0
England
My mum has a ceiling mounted hoist. I've seen what is required to transfer her and it definitely requires two carers. I suppose it may depend on the level of physical disability?

Since you already have experience of live-in care I won't itemise the hidden costs, but I would expect the upfront costs to be slightly higher than £1500pw. It currently costs us £1400pw in carers' pay and agency fees. In addition there are carer travel costs, food, utilities etc. The extra carer will need a separate bedroom too. However, I agree that the costs are similar to the NH fees, if you exclude the cost of actually maintaining the property that the person being cared for lives in.

I often say that I am managing a CH for one. It has been the best thing for my mum to stay at home. She has a household regime and routine that revolves entirely around her needs and preferences. We are also fortunate in having excellent NHS services close by to meet my mum's medical needs. If funds allow then I would certainly recommend live-in care, provided that the person cared for is safe, and compliant with care at home.
 

Malalie

Registered User
Sep 1, 2016
310
0
Sorry - don't know your circumstances, but do you mean you would have to sell your house to pay for her care? In which case, I don't think you would have to do that.

You said 'the house' - if that is actually her house, wouldn't it be better to sell it to pay for professional care - possibly better for her and surely better for you too.

There are lots of people on here who care full time, and I see that you are getting replies so I hope you will get good advice.
 

Oh Knickers

Registered User
Nov 19, 2016
500
0
Trini,

Sorry to hear about MIL. However, £1500 is on the really high side. You must be beside yourself with worry. I have done research into Care Homes for mother. The ones charging this amount were the most expensive in her area - Essex - and were providing specialist dementia care. But this amount of money is ridiculous.

But first of all, what assessments have been made into your MILs finances?

You should have an assessment fo what income your MIL has and what savings she has. If she owns the property you are living in a charge may, operative word, may be raised against it. However, if it is your own property, there should be nothing that you should be paying for.

Please, as a matter of urgency, contact these organisations who will give you all the information you need and guide you.

Alzheimere's Society
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/
I have found the above a superb source of information and a good place to offload. They may also be able to guide you, not suggest, other appropriate homes in the area. They have a good insight into how things work in your area and will help you work your way through.

Scroll down the page and put in your postcode.

Age UK
Same as above.

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/?gclid=CjwK..._6y-vPpp8STtWBdfyc-1ahoCZgXw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have done a lot of research into to care homes in mother's area. they range from @ £1,8000 down to £600pw for the ones I was happy to get mum into. I learnt from Ann Mac's thread, So Bizarre, the big ones do not necessarily provide the care she was happy with. It has been a lot of research. I have now found 3 I am happy with and I am fussy. They start at £600 pw. Mother has a reasonable-ish pension and her savings, currently, put her over the limit. However, on speaking with the care homes when mother's savings run out - which would be fairly quickly, two things would happen. Firstly, SS then put in the Local Council weekly financial support, plus or minus £500 per week. Your local County Council will be able to tell you what they provide in care home support. Secondly, the care homes would then put mother onto the same charge rate for SS funded homes - so bring it down.

I really hope that some of this helps you.
 

Saffie

Registered User
Mar 26, 2011
22,513
0
Near Southampton
Trini,

Sorry to hear about MIL. However, £1500 is on the really high side. You must be beside yourself with worry. I have done research into Care Homes for mother. The ones charging this amount were the most expensive in her area - Essex - and were providing specialist dementia care. But this amount of money is ridiculous.

But first of all, what assessments have been made into your MILs finances?

You should have an assessment fo what income your MIL has and what savings she has. If she owns the property you are living in a charge may, operative word, may be raised against it. However, if it is your own property, there should be nothing that you should be paying for.

Please, as a matter of urgency, contact these organisations who will give you all the information you need and guide you.

Alzheimere's Society
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/
I have found the above a superb source of information and a good place to offload. They may also be able to guide you, not suggest, other appropriate homes in the area. They have a good insight into how things work in your area and will help you work your way through.

Scroll down the page and put in your postcode.

Age UK
Same as above.

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/?gclid=CjwK..._6y-vPpp8STtWBdfyc-1ahoCZgXw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have done a lot of research into to care homes in mother's area. they range from @ £1,8000 down to £600pw for the ones I was happy to get mum into. I learnt from Ann Mac's thread, So Bizarre, the big ones do not necessarily provide the care she was happy with. It has been a lot of research. I have now found 3 I am happy with and I am fussy. They start at £600 pw. Mother has a reasonable-ish pension and her savings, currently, put her over the limit. However, on speaking with the care homes when mother's savings run out - which would be fairly quickly, two things would happen. Firstly, SS then put in the Local Council weekly financial support, plus or minus £500 per week. Your local County Council will be able to tell you what they provide in care home support. Secondly, the care homes would then put mother onto the same charge rate for SS funded homes - so bring it down.

I really hope that some of this helps you.

Lots of helpful information there but just a couple of things to mention about what has been written.
Firstly, Care homes are usually cheaper than Nursing homes as they don't have to provide continual nursing care which involves employing nurses to be on site at all times? There is however a nursing element of funding providedby the NHS of £156.25 per week which may or may not have been included in the fees quoted. I found that they usually had already taken that into account when quoting fees.
£1,500 a week is a lot but is not at all unusual for nursing homes in the south.

Secondly, I very much doubt that all Care or Nursing homes would agree to accept the same fees as paid by the SS. Some will but it is sometimes the case that residents have to move when self-funding ends or a top-up is required to remain and this cannot be paid by the resident herself. This is something to be borne in mind when choosing a home of either sort when self-funding might be limited.
Best wishes with however you go forward.
 

Lets_Stop_Time

Registered User
Aug 23, 2015
45
0
When we first moved MIL into a care home we were shocked at costs and feared selling the house was the only way.
We found that she was entitled to PIP and some other benefits which are put towards the costs.
Then her pension pays some of the cost.
And she owns her house the council have done a loan with us where they pay the £4,000 a month against the value of the house. It has meant we haven't had to sell it yet and her care bills are good for another few years. If we reach the value of the house (I doubt sadly we will) then the house is effectively sold to the council.

so pension, benefits and council loan pay her costs. Its £5,000 a month for us which sounds crazy but when you realise all they do its understandable.
My MIL is at the stage of needed full nursing care as she can do nothing for herself.
 

Trini

Registered User
Dec 7, 2015
39
0
Thank you all. It is her house and she lives alone apart from her live in carer. She is self funded and with the value of the house will continue to be so for some time. Interesting about the ceiling hoist. We have been told differently. Need to investigate that further.I do have a further question. Somebody mentioned FNC £156.25. I know nothing about this. MIL has never been assessed for NHS Continuing Healthcare. What is it and should she have been assessed for it. Since she was diagnosed with Vascular/mixed dementia 2 years ago her GP has shown little/no interest and we have had virtually no support from anybody. It has been a constant battle to find things out and get what she is entitled to.
 

Meanmum

Registered User
Apr 14, 2017
19
0
Others may correct me on this. In England I believe the LA will include the value of your home in a financial asessment if going into residential care, but not if having care at home?
 

esmeralda

Registered User
Nov 27, 2014
3,083
0
Devon
I can't add anything to the conversation about funding for Nursing Homes as I am completely confused by the whole thing. The only thing I can contribute is that I have a ceiling hoist for my husband and manage to transfer him with this on my own with no problems. He has an in situ sling which I put in place while he's on the bed, and it stays in place while he's in his chair. He is not really able to do anything for himself but he can reach over to hold on to a bed bar and roll a little. This makes it possible to get him clean and dressed. It is tiring and I have Carers in the morning who get him up but more often than not when he has a toileting accident it's when they aren't here. He has a catheter which means there aren't any problems with having to toilet him to pass urine.

Have you got input from a Community Physio and OT? People with severe disabilities vary an awful lot in what they are able to do, and the health professionals are the best people to assess and discuss what equipment can help.

Hope you can find a way through this very difficult situation
 

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