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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To worry about where the money for dementia care will come from

139 replies

Potatoduster · 28/08/2019 08:06

If the NHS is already stretched how on earth will it cope with a huge surge of the baby boomers needing dementia care and wanting the NHS to fully fund it?

OP posts:
JazzyGG · 28/08/2019 08:14

It doesn't. Dementia care is rarely fully funded. It's the same old story it's been for years anyone with assets has to sell them to fund care. The issue is not just funding its funding care homes that will recognise and accept dementia.

Anotherusefulname · 28/08/2019 08:17

All those baby boomers will have to sell their houses to pay for their care. That's how it has been for a long time now. Dementia care isn't fully funded.

ilovesooty · 28/08/2019 08:18

It isn't funded by the NHS as a rule.
Congratulations on the nicely goady OP though.

Lamenameagain · 28/08/2019 08:22

Dementia care isn't funded by the NHS but by social services. Whilst there will be a lot of people with assets to pay there will also be many who don't and plenty of people who start with assets have them dwindle to nothing quite quickly as the cost of care is huge. There will be a bigger financial burden on the state and I really don't know how it will be financed.

jamoncrumpet · 28/08/2019 08:30

It's not funded if there are assets. My 90yo grandmother is in f/t dementia care costing £1400 a WEEK. Her pensions pay part of it and the rest is the money from her savings and the sale of her house. Before she became ill my aunt suggested she gift some of her considerable savings to her grandchildren when we were all in university and she said 'Of course not, they will get ALL of it when I die'

Errr. Nope!

Abracad · 28/08/2019 08:32

The challenge to resolve is what happens to the post baby boomer gen, who don’t have the same assets. We will need a new way to pay for care services then.

Hmmmbop · 28/08/2019 08:34

It's already having an effect. Why do you think councils have moved to monthly bin collections, stopped planting flowers and are cutting down trees? They aren't getting enough money from central government and are having to cut council services to provide essential services for the most needy.

BlueThesaurusRex · 28/08/2019 08:34

My dad has no savings, no house etc but a reasonably high pension. This pays for his care needs at the moment. I don’t know what will happen when his fees exceed his income.

Wolfff · 28/08/2019 08:34

My step fathers care is being funded partly by the local authority who take his state pension and most of his private pension towards it. This leaves my Mum with not enough to cover bills and we are helping her with that.

If she needed dementia care at a future point (although she said she would prefer euthanasia) we would sell her house but as it is a park home it’s difficult to sell and would only fund care for a year or so.

Honestly having seen how my step father lives, stuck in a lounge with screeching demented people all day, unable to communicate but still aware of his situation and his own limitations, I would commit suicide in the early stages if I was ever diagnosed.

Hmmmbop · 28/08/2019 08:36

jamoncrumpet it's actually quite a good job she didn't, it could have been considered deliberate deprivation of assets and those grandkids could have been footing her bill. It's something which has rarely been pursued in the past but will be more so now due to the funding issues.

Babdoc · 28/08/2019 08:41

The one bit of good news is that dementia rates are declining. Possibly due to better blood pressure control, statins, less smoking etc, reducing the numbers of vascular dementia cases, rather than Alzheimer’s, but it helps.
I think that eventually we may legalise assisted suicide in the U.K. , as in Switzerland and the Netherlands. People could then write an advanced directive to authorise their own euthanasia at a pre determined level of dementia.
There is also a lot of work going into care robots, which would be cheaper than all the care staff required, thus reducing care home costs. Japan is doing a lot of development in this area, driven by its large elderly population.
There is also research into treatments for dementia, which may bear fruit before the next generation (of non home owners) reaches that age without any housing equity to cover their costs.

jamoncrumpet · 28/08/2019 08:42

This was about twenty years ago @Hmmmbop - way before the dementia kicked in

NerrSnerr · 28/08/2019 08:44

Dementia care isn't funded by the NHS but by social services.

It can be funded by the NHS if the dementia causes the person to have a 'health need' and they qualify for CHC. That is for people with nursing needs such as physical aggression, frequent falls etc. The rest does fall to the local authority and the person themselves.

Original poster
Potatoduster · 28/08/2019 08:49

This is in response to Barbara Windsor making a public appearance to urge Boris Johnson to give more help.

As it's a heath condition shouldn't it be something the NHS covers?

OP posts:
WaitrosePigeon · 28/08/2019 08:55

As it's a heath condition shouldn't it be something the NHS covers?

Yes it absolutely should.

NerrSnerr · 28/08/2019 08:55

In an ideal world it would all be covered by the state but it's just not viable. In my area a dementia bed in a nursing home is £650 a week minimum. There just isn't the money.

Original poster
Potatoduster · 28/08/2019 08:56

m.youtube.com/watch?v=vYJQOYQHb7Q

OP posts:
SnuggyBuggy · 28/08/2019 09:01

I keep saying (but not doing Hmm) how I'd like to have something in place to say that if I have dementia I'm only to receive palliative care, no lifesaving antibiotics, surgery or cancer treatment.

In my work life I've been amazed at the level of invasive treatment patients with dementia are made to have. That can't help matters

WhoKnewBeefStew · 28/08/2019 09:10

My mum died of dementia, but it also nearly took my Dad too, he was insistent that he looked after her in their home (plus she was very emotional manipulative towards the end, part of the illness) He ended up having a heart attack which I think was brought in by having no sleep and basically having a full grown toddler to look after for over 3 years. It was awful. We ended up having to put Mum into a care home so dad could recover, thankfully it didn't last long as she died after a few months. What a horrid situation tho, and so so sad. I've decided after reading this thread to look into an insurance policy to cover any dementia care I may need

BeanBag7 · 28/08/2019 09:11

@SnuggyBuggy
Surely they have to give patients with dementia all lifesaving treatment, unless they have already signed consent not to?

You can't say "this person has cancer but we wont try to treat them because they have dementia" unless you have consent from them

Idontwanttotalk · 28/08/2019 09:11

We all need to accept that if we expect Government to provide these services free at the point of need then we all have to make larger contributions in the form of Tax and NI.

We need to stop expecting to inherit money and property from our relations. Selling their homes and using money they have saved to provide for the care they need should be a norm.

Government money comes from all of us. If we all expect the government to provide expensive services then the only way it can be done is to pay more in. It isn't a bottomless pot.

doublesheesh · 28/08/2019 09:15

I never understand why people object to paying for their own care. All our lives we pay for ourselves. The state doesn't buy you a house, pay your bills etc. We work to pay our way. It doesn't suddenly stop because we get old.

BlueThesaurusRex · 28/08/2019 09:18

@doublesheesh
I agree- I hope it didn’t come across that I was complaining about my dads care coming from his pension- I’m not, that’s what it’s there for, to pay for his living costs

SnuggyBuggy · 28/08/2019 09:21

But what's the point? The dementia patient isn't going to recover because you can't recover from dementia.

Idontwanttotalk · 28/08/2019 09:22

@Hmmmbop

"It's already having an effect. Why do you think councils have moved to monthly bin collections, stopped planting flowers and are cutting down trees? They aren't getting enough money from central government and are having to cut council services to provide essential services for the most needy."
Councils choose how they spend our money which they receive partly from central government. Some probably spend it more widely than others.

I still have weekly in collections and public areas are still planted up and changed 2-3 times per year. I haven't seen trees being cut down although I think they are being maintained less frequently.

Are you saying councils are cutting down healthy trees? Surely not. Wouldn't those campaigning for climate change measures object to that?