Devastating news - does anyone know what I can do about work?

[Whistlersofskye]

My father has been diagnosed with a brain tumour and will need surgery and chemotherapy. He lives alone and I’m an only child so there isn’t anyone to help care for him.

I work full time, office based but could potentially work from home if allowed. I need to be around to care for him, is there any kind of law on my side that says I can work from home to be around for him (I’d move in with him) or maybe could I have time off to care for him? Is this usually unpaid?

I work for an employer who isn’t very flexible or family friendly so I know there’s no way I’d be able to just do this unless there is some sort of legislation that will work in my favour.

The other option will be to get carers in but my father has no money and I couldn’t afford to pay for them. Not sure if they’d be NHS?

This news has come out of the blue and I don’t know where to start. Would MacMillan be of any help with this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Register as a carer with the local carers centre and get them to talk you through what rights carers have .

We had trouble with macmillan in the community the hospital one was ok.

Marie curie sent a night nurse who tried to force an injection on Dh against his wishes so I had to complain to them. I only got one more visit probably because I complained then they left me sole caring for 24/7.

OP can’t claim carers allowance unless she earns less than £196 per week after certain deductions.

With respect. If OP even hints under her breath that she has the time or is willing to be his carer, social services will let her get on with it. He’s entitled to a care package to get him out of hospital as soon as he’s fit, and then social services can arrange care visits up to four times a day depending on need.

OP one word of caution. Several posters have mentioned a ‘free’ six week package of care on leaving hospital. It’s not always free - eligibility is down to local authority discretion. Unless there is nursing care or physio/OT involvement in his home care, the hospital will pass him on to social services and you will be charged.

My mum spent four weeks in hospital last year (94 and has dementia). She lives with us but her condition deteriorated in hospital and she needed carers to be able to cope at home. Hospital social worker arranged for 6 weeks temporary care and we were told it was free - if she needed care after this period it would be means tested.

The week before ‘free’ care was due to end l was contacted by our local authority asking for details of mums’ income/assets. I told them she was pretty much recovered and wouldn’t need care beyond the free period. At that point I was told that the care wasn’t free - she had no nursing or physio input, so we would be charged according to ability to pay and that l had to provide the details they asked for. I cancelled ongoing care as she was pretty much back to normal by then and a couple of weeks after the financial assessment had been done I received a bill for over £1000 for five weeks care.

When your Dad is ready to leave hospital the resident social worker will assess his needs and care is usually provided free of charge for the first two to three weeks. As there is not always a ready source of carers, this may delay his return home anyway. During his first week or so at home, arrange for a social service assessment.

Attendance allowance is not too difficult to claim and a higher rate is available if he needs support during the night. It comes through fairly quickly and it's not means tested. I went through all this with my late DH who had severe dementia and Parkinsons.

OP needs to be careful with anything described as ‘free care’. The hospital social worker arranged for mums’ care on discharge and we were told that after 6 weeks care we would be assessed by the LA if her needs were ongoing beyond that. Mum lives with us, but the social worker said that the care was free so we should take advantage of it as it meant she could be discharged earlier and continue her recovery at home.

At the beginning of the fourth week of care I received an email asking me to fill in mum’s financial assessment forms - I have her LPA. I rang for advice and pointed out that she was almost fully recovered and wouldn’t need ongoing care, at which point I was informed that I had been given the wrong information, and that there was no period of free care unless there was either district nursing input or OT/physio involvement, which there wasn’t. They assessed mum’s contribution and we received a bill of nearly £1000 for five weeks of what I consider to be lackadaisical and woefully substandard care, based on four visits a day. Some days we had three and others two, and the 9pm call to put mum to bed mostly took place at between 5pm and 6pm because they were so short staffed. It taught me to check and double check before accepting information on trust.