Elderly care

[Jackster11]

My 90 year old mother went into hospital with gallstone stuck in duct, she was in for 4 weeks,and has passed the stone, she has dementia so it was difficult.
She went into nhs reablement and has just finished week 3.
They say she needs 2carers to help her mobility and may soon need hoist.
It all points towards needing to move into care.
She does not have enough money to pay for care but likely her capital in property could.
It’s a big property with development potential but would be big job to prepare for market and sell and she needs the cash now.
Anyone know how to finance transition and balance social service expectations ?

Have a look at the age uk website. They have comprehensive resource documents which will explain what can happen in this type of situation. If you can’t find them on the website give their helpline a ring. There are rules which enable the care to begin before a property is sold. Aldo talk to the re enablement team they should be able to point you in the right direction

Thanks will take a look on ageuk website

Could the house be rented out to help towards costs? I'm guessing not as it may take some preparation to do that. I think sometimes care fees can be deferred whilst a house is being prepared to be sold.

I doubt enough money would be raised through renting out the house.

The care home I work in charges £1000 per week . You might have no other choice but to sell property… It’s really sad, I think it’s outrageous how much care homes charge. I have no idea where the money actually goes, all staff are on minimum wage, kitchen has a very strict budget and when things get broken, it takes a long time to replace them.

I agree. I went to see a client in a nursing home last week. they were charging £1500 a week and client was having to get her house on the market. The staff didn't even seem to do much for her, she had a shower twice a week and the other days she washed herself. It was more just supervision as she was prone to falling. I understand staff costs are high, but she didn't even seem happy there.

Social services will arrange something called a deferred payment. It's a scenario that is more common than not.

unless you already have power of attorney for finances then it's not within your legal authority to sort out her estate and sell her property at this stage anyway.

there is also the 12 week property disregard - basically you have 3 months to make arrangements anyway before they start to charge (But this isn't anywhere near long enough to get financial deputyship if needed so a deferred payment would be arranged at the end of that if needed).

www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs38_property_and_paying_for_residential_care_fcs.pdf

£1000 a month would work out at approx £32 a day, or £1.30 an hour. £48 a day or £2 an hour at £1500.
For 24/7 carers pay and unsocial hours enhancements, food, heat, electricity, water, laundry, council tax, building maintenance, insurance, gardeners, stationery, admin costs etc.
My nursery fees cost way more than that twenty years ago.

That’s the thing though, staff costs are not actually that high… Everyone is on minimum wage. There is also staffing issues in every care home I have been in, the staff turn over is very high because the wages are so poor, we are always losing staff because you can literally earn more money stacking shelves in Asda (The care industry is on its arse at the moment). When you think of the vast amounts of money a care home makes per month (for example the home I work in has 60 rooms, each resident paying £1000 per week) there is excessive amounts of profit being made, because the money doesn’t go back into the home that’s for sure. Even when you deduct amount spent on bills, food (which is very cheap and poor quality in most homes, kitchen are on a ridiculously strict budget), staff wages (all minimum wage) … That leaves behind huge profits every month. Profits made by these elderly residents having to sell all their properties and life savings. It’s very sad.

It's per week, not per month.

My mistake!
So still only £5.90 or £8.90 an hour.

I have lpa On her finances in place am trying to find out about chc funding as she has dementia