URGENT. Fast tract funding Alzheimer’s and cancer

Onlyme

Registered User
Apr 5, 2010
4,992
0
UK
Hi

I’ve not been posting much after I lost Mum but now I have a question on behalf of a friend and need an urgent answer. I know that you will have the right answers for me.

My childhood friend’s Mum has Alzheimer’s and has just been diagnosed with a brain tumour. They have said she will palliative care only and will be fast tracked to a nursing home. They family have been told they will get £750 but will have to pay top up. They have already been asked to sign fast tract assessment paperwork. The hospital want to move on this ASAP.

Questions

I thought that as she is now being fast tracked she would/should get full CHC funding; are the council/hospital SW trying it On? I thought CHC was the same as NHS hospital care, not financial assessed and fully inclusive.

Have things changed in the last 5 years or so since I did this with Mum? If so what is new.

Can the family ask for a particular home? Sadly my friend’s Dad has also got Alzheimer’s and can’t cope with any noise so they need a quiet location so husband and wife can spend as much time together as possible.

I’m trying to supply as much information to the family before they get asked to sign nursing home paperwork etc.

Any help you can give will be very gratefully received.
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,081
0
Bury
Fast track CHC should go through very quickly once the '.. rapidly deteriorating condition and the condition may be entering a terminal phase...' statement has been signed.

Although it is still illegal to pay anything towards CHC as it is a service provided by the NHS various accountancy fudges are increasingly being used to allow a contribution to be made.
CCGs/LAs cannot afford the fees that homes charge so something has to give.

Any contribution is voluntary.

Is it possible to pay top-up fees for NHS continuing healthcare?
No, it isn't possible to top up NHS continuing healthcare packages, like you can with local authority care packages.

The only way that NHS continuing healthcare packages can be topped up privately is if you pay for additional private services on top of the services you get from the NHS. These private services should be provided by different staff and preferably in a different setting.


https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/socia...ked-questions-about-nhs-continuing-healthcare
 

Elle3

Registered User
Jun 30, 2016
705
0
Hi

I’ve not been posting much after I lost Mum but now I have a question on behalf of a friend and need an urgent answer. I know that you will have the right answers for me.

My childhood friend’s Mum has Alzheimer’s and has just been diagnosed with a brain tumour. They have said she will palliative care only and will be fast tracked to a nursing home. They family have been told they will get £750 but will have to pay top up. They have already been asked to sign fast tract assessment paperwork. The hospital want to move on this ASAP.

Questions

I thought that as she is now being fast tracked she would/should get full CHC funding; are the council/hospital SW trying it On? I thought CHC was the same as NHS hospital care, not financial assessed and fully inclusive.

Have things changed in the last 5 years or so since I did this with Mum? If so what is new.

Can the family ask for a particular home? Sadly my friend’s Dad has also got Alzheimer’s and can’t cope with any noise so they need a quiet location so husband and wife can spend as much time together as possible.

I’m trying to supply as much information to the family before they get asked to sign nursing home paperwork etc.

Any help you can give will be very gratefully received.

Hi Onlyme, the £750 sounds more like an LA funded rate, rather than CHC funding, but I could be wrong. I would advise your friend to ask for clarification and if it isn’t CHC funding they should ask for an urgent fast track CHC Assessment.

Regarding CHC funding, as Nitram said more and more often now the cost of the care home is more than the CHC funding, however, like in my case with my dad, if you stand your ground and refuse to pay any additional fees, or move them to a cheaper care home, the CHC panel can apply and agree to all the fees, for us it was referred to the Assistant Director of the CCG, who agreed to all the funding being paid. It does mean more paperwork for them and signatures but they can do it.

Good luck.
Elle x
 

Onlyme

Registered User
Apr 5, 2010
4,992
0
UK
Thanks for your help. What about the £140 nursing allowance? That should also apply. I suspect the LA is going to take that into their £750 payment which means they won’t be paying £750 but £600
 

Kevinl

Registered User
Aug 24, 2013
6,064
0
Salford
I don't know you can get both CHC and Funded Nursing Care (FNC) at the same time as far as I know you either get one or the other. The money for both comes from the same place. FNC is usually give after CHC has been refused.
K
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,081
0
Bury
Is it the LA or the CCG who are asking for 'top up' ?
If CHC has not been granted it will be LA.
If CHC has been granted it will be the CCG (To confuse matters, in some areas LAs may be paying some of the cost to the CCG but this is invisible to the recipient of CHC, research devomanc for more info)

Are you sure that
fast tracked to a nursing home
means fast tracked for CHC and not just made a priority case for placement in a nursing home?
 

Kevinl

Registered User
Aug 24, 2013
6,064
0
Salford
We got nursing allowance many years before we applied for CHC with Mum.
I don't know what "Nursing Allowance" is, in England (at least) Funded Nursing Care currently £155 (but going up to £158) is available to people in a nursing homes only.
To get it the home has to follow the same process as applying for CHC, if you do get CHC then the FNC stops.
Googling "Nursing Allowance" doesn't come up with any benefits other than an allowance nurses can claim towards their uniform cost and things.
K
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,081
0
Bury
Historically there were two levels of nursing allowance, when FNC was introduced there was the usual confusing information on how to convert.