Can anyone help me with year on year care home cost increases? Not sure if this is normal

Sorry auto incorrect I meant PRIVATE funding not probate funding!

Yes they can discharge if you said she is self funding and you would arrange a probate paid placement for her. It's great that you feel you are getting somewhere for a discharge to assess / intermediate funding but that is discretionary if they feel she had re-enablement (rehab) potential and decided by the discharge team . Because of COVID you may get somewhere you wouldn't usually have because systems aren't working same way as usual.

But In terms of uplift in fees each year those are kinda steep but it is about contract you signed when you placed her. Don't be stressed by what your LA will do once her funds deplete as they will assess at the time and try their best not to move her unless they think placement is terribly over priced for the care she is receiving

You nor they can predict that
So let her enjoy where she is and take it from when they are involved that they will do their best

No, if the social needs arise from the primary medical problem, then that CCG should pay for it all. Don’t have the CCG paying for the medical needs, and the local authority the social needs - because DM will end up with a financial assessment and paying for her social care, if she has more than £23,250 in assets.

My DD is in a care home, where she gets 1:1 care all her waking hours - that’s meals, bathing, social activities, etc; because she has a medical condition and could die at any time. There is also medical care onsite, which she needs on occasion. It’s all funded by continuing health care.

my late aunt spent almost 20 years in a care home....took over 500k in fees from her savings....when she died there was 46k left and the house which we inherited....fees initially were about 800 a month and then finally almost 1000 a week !

I believe the six weeks funded care home placement is a Covid related thing. There is funding available to get people out of hospital on a "discharge to assess" basis, in order to free up hospital beds. The cost of the care home is met for that period. My father benefited from it earlier this year.

Unfortunately, dm's house is in one council area, and her gp another, and currently both are saying it's the other one's responsibility.

We have been through this, except it was DD. I wrote about this to the Sec. of State for Health, who told me it was under NHS England. It is the responsibility of the council where she is ordinarily resident - ie where her house is and what she regards as home.

Every day's a school day
I never heard of 6 weeks free in a care home

You can get 6 weeks free 'reablement' care package at home for free via the NHS but it's not a right it's at their discretion if they feel you have the potential to be 'reabled' Any dementia diagnosis or likely need for permanent care usually invalidates that.

There are sometimes admission prevention schemes like 'discharge to assess' where they send people to a care home for 'assessment' instead of admitting them. Maybe it's something like that but again I would think it would be less a right and more a possibility.

I guess I hadn't been clear that the hospital had arranged the placement. If that's the case and she didn't have a choice then it does seem very unfair she would have to pay. If it's arranged by the hospital and not the LA then the CCG are the people you need to get to pay. I would try to get onto the hospital discharge planning dept. If they arranged the placement then they should have sorted the finances.

You can take out an insurance policy where you pay a set amount and they cover fees. Bit of a gamble but at least it's a fixed cost.

I hope I haven’t offended anyone with this post, it’s just quite nice to get it all out. Don’t worry, we’ve all experienced the realities of care. Pop over to the Cockroach Cafe and see if you can squeeze on to the Bad Daughters’ Bench. Be warned, it’s a bit full.

OP, have you thought of having live-in care.
why not contact a few agencies, eg bluebird, and get some estimates.
if your mother was self-funding in a care home, and her money was exhausted, then the council would have to fund her.
but they might well move her to a cheaper place, or somewhere they have negotiated a better deal with.
you would not have to pay. there is no responsibility to do so. legally.

I have not read the full thread... but, my then 80 year old mother was diagnosed with dementia (mixed) about two and a half years ago. I got in touch with a financial adviser who specialises in elderly people's advice.

My mum has a generous pension from being a teacher and savings of around £400k. We had to move her into a care home and together with the adviser I bought an annuity to pay for her care. If she lasts five years, it will have paid for itself and any longer and we will in effect have made a return on it. Obviously if she dies in the next 18 months there will be a loss but frankly, knowing that her fees are covered for the rest of her life is very helpful. We used about half her savings to buy the annuity the rest has been invested in moderate risk stocks and shares, so far it has grown and her savings are increasing.

My advice would be to talk to a chartered financial adviser who has the elderly financial planning qualification and see what they suggest- you may not find that as much needs to go in care home fees as you think, especially as she is still quite young.

This stuff is awful to have to take on, but you have a duty with POA to try to maximise the benefit for her. Frankly I'd be a wreck if the fees were not taken care of.

Good shout re the 117 as once you're on it it's difficult for them to take it away!

Stop trying to sort this out yourself.

Tomorrow morning ring the local authority your mum lives in and request a Care Act Assessment.

If at any stage anyone tries to fob you off because she is a 'self funder' continue to insist that she is entitled to an assessment.

As part of this assessment they will determine what level of care she needs and if she is eligible for fully funded continuing healthcare or a funded nursing contribution.

They should also assist you with finding a care home if that is the right option, although some Local Authorities are more helpful with this than others.

She only has to self fund until her finances drop to £23500. After that she will pay on a sliding scale downwards.

If the care home she/you choose is more expensive than the LA will pay when she drops below the threshold you will have 3 options.

1. Appeal to the LA to pay the higher rate as moving her would be detrimental - depending on how unwell she is this does have a good chance of success.

1. Someone else in the family pays the difference between what the LA will pay and what the care home wants (this is called a 3rd party top up)

1. Move her to somewhere within local authority rates if she can tolerate the move.

I'm afraid though I do have to echo other posters. Dementia is a terminal disease and once it is severe enough to be diagnosed people don't tend to live with it for lots and lots of years, no matter how physically healthy they are to begin with.

My advice as always in these situations is to use your mums money to pay for the best care she can afford.

Do look into whether she has ever been detained under S3. You can ask the mental health act administrator at the hospital where you think she may have been detained. If you have ever been detained under S3 you have a right to free aftercare (S117) which is non means tested and is in perpetuity unless you are separately discharged from S117 and the onus is on the detaining authority to show that.

Not many people know about it but a number of people have managed to get free care in old age via a historic S117 entitlement so you may get lucky.
It's one whole hell of a lot easier to prove entitlement than CHC which is subjective. It's just were you ever detained under S3. If you were you have S117 funding entitlement.

Although I don’t dispute sunmoonstarry’s experience, DM should be assessed for CHC before being means tested to fund her own care.
The criteria for getting CHC are very odd. If you can convince CHC she has severe needs in at least two areas she should be entitled to receive it. Easier said than done,I know.

Don't bother with trying for CHC funding now - there's no way she'll get it based on what you've said. I know this from working as a SW - still fighting a case for it for a client on death's door.

If you place her and her funds run down to the £23250 threshold a contact the local authority for a self-funding pick-up. They will assess her and if she's eligible to be in a care home (you wouldn't believes the amount of people who wouldn't be !) then they will pick up funding.... however they will only fund best value so may want to move her somewhere cheaper. You'd have to make a case for her best interests to stay.

It's wise to place her somewhere where they also place local authority funded people to start with or pick somewhere not too extortionate.