Care home fees

@MissMoneyFairy
So what would you have the poor folk do?

Sorry @Dementiadad I wasn't trying to have a dig at you, just in case you thought that, just giving an explanation for why my mum has no money

Self funders are always propping up the system, you get the same room, food, care, activities and staff. It causes real bad feeling but councils need to be given the money so that all residents pay the same. You can apply for funded nursingcare and attendance allowance which helps with the cost but it is avery unfair situation where there are mixed funded residents.

All a DNR means is that CPR will not be attempted in the event of your heart stopping. I’m afraid there’s no get-out clause for other illnesses, including dementia, which lead to the living nightmare which so many elderly people have to endure at the end of their lives. There may be some who would choose life, come what may, but I dread spending my last years helpless in a care home. A DNR won’t necessarily prevent that happening.

I understand @Dementiadad but that is where we are.
I don't think it is as cut and dried as you are subsidising the people who have nothing - which effectively is what my mum has.
But it's why we should be looking at taxation and national insurance to find a way to better fund our elderly parents' care, so that it does seem more equitable.
It does come down to who has the most assets at the moment, and you may think that your dad has done well to provide himself with a pension and a home, while my mother has been a skiver her whole life.
I don't know about your situation, but my mother has spent her whole life caring for others, her own mother, then her father, her disabled daughter (my sister) who sadly died 3 years ago, which has been the catalyst for the changes in her since then.
She's had no opportunity to hold down a full time job, provide for herself and create an asset (house) which we could now sell and get the best care that she really needs. And she is only 72 so we could have many years of this!
I am grateful that we are able to access council funding, because that will help a lot, but we are going to have to find a few extra hundred a week - we are a big family so will share that burden, but it just seems a pity that successive governments have failed to address this.

I totally get where you are coming from. My mam was in a care home for 5 years. We did get NHS funding for the last 18 months, but by that point she could literally do absolutely nothing for herself.

She was in the minority being a self funder and it does stick n your crop somewhat that people in the same home, getting same care etc were not paying.

I’m so sorry you find yourself in this position. It’s a horrific disease x

Have a read of this, its all about fair cost that councils will pay. It'll not come in for a long time, but the point is for councils to pay care homes fairly. Can guarantee when it does come in that homes will still charge more for self funders, simply because they can.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/market-sustainability-and-fair-cost-of-care-fund-2022-to-2023-guidance/market-sustainability-and-fair-cost-of-care-fund-2022-to-2023-guidance

Have you considered a live in carer? My Gran had these and they were fantastic and allowed her to stay in her own home, we were told by my Grans neurologist that dementia patients did much better being able to stay in their own home.

Just going through the same with my lovely FIL
We found the advice on the AGE UK website to be really helpful.

Make sure you look after yourself through this

I’ve just had my financial assessment from the LA in England. Mum was in a care home for six months up to her passing two weeks ago.

Mum was fully funded because she had no house to sell or any assets. The weekly fees were £722 per week. The council assistance was £580 per week therefore we had to use her state pension to make up the shortfall.
I have to say felt sorry for most of the residents who had to pay using their savings or assets to pay their bill. One lady I was speaking to was very worried what would happen to her as all her money had run out. I hope she was allowed to stay.

My mum spent six and a half years in a care home run by a charitable trust. She was self funding and when her money ran out after four years the council put a charge against the house which we paid off after she died and the house was sold. She died in 2016 so everything will have gone up since then.

Successive governments have simply failed to address elderly social care and it's in crisis. If I need care I fully expect my house to be sold to finance it but as people live longer with conditions such as dementia the crisis gets worse.

Neither my aunt nor my husband's aunt, both of whom had dementia, received continuing healthcare funding for their care home fees.

They were in similar positions. They both owned their own home, neither had married and both had occupational pensions, a state pension and some savings. Both were entitled to attendance allowance when they moved into their care homes

My aunt's home was sold to finance an annuity. When she died there was virtually nothing left.

My husband's aunt's home was let in order to increase her income. That turned out to be a much better solution. The rent didn't cover her fees, but it meant that her savings lasted longer. When she died she still had the house and some savings.

I would definitely look into letting your father's flat, especially if it is London, where rents will be higher.

Trying to get continuing care is virtually impossible - the forms are a million pages long and the local authority keeps sending them back with questions and queries and the person stays in their hospital bed despite being medically fit.
Fast track is often more successful but have to show short life expectancy

My husband and I have signed a declaration at the GP for DNR as we object to being kept alive artificially for the care homes to make their obscene profits. The suffering that is taking place is inhumane. Far more dignified to go when our time is up. Can’t understand people being frightened of this.

I have not been recommended any near us, but will have a look.
Thank you and also @Theeyeballsinthesky, perhaps there is something available.

Homes can be charities as well as companies. To assume that homes with a charity number are somehow more moral than ones that aren't is incorrect and misleading. They'll still be making a heck of a lot of cash before reinvesting some profits. Its all smoke and mirrors.

There are care homes run by charities who have to reinvest profits

For example

https://www.stmonicatrust.org.uk/care/care-homes

Are there any social enterprise care homes? They wouldn't be obliged to make a profit for the owner or shareholders.

Its a marketplace and private rates are determined by local demographics. There will be parts of the UK where a private bed is still £650.

You generally can stay in the same home when your saving run out as if they kick you out it's bad for business. People would go to the papers and it causes reputational damage.

When the proportion of self funders drops the self funders fees go up. 10 years ago the ratio was around £500:£1500. Same care home today is about £700: £2500. I know because my friend's husband is in the same home that my mum was in. It rattles through the pension and savings very quickly, with no guarantee you can stay in the same home when your money runs out. They have to maintain the correct ratio to keep the place going.

its unlikely that the number of self funders will drop as the current & next generation of ppl going into care homes are home owners however the generation after are less likely to be home owners and then it will become more of a problem

small care homes have been going bust all over the place. It’s becoming more and more common for care homes to be larger and run by large corporate organisations

tbh the age charities have been doing their best to raise awareness of this for years but generally the public aren’t interested in social care until it affects them personally