What are the chances of getting my mum moved near me?

[flutisy]

My mother has been in a care home 200 miles away from where I live. She is funded by the LA (her savings have run out). She has advanced dementia and I am the only relative who visits her. She is currently in hospital and she has to move to nursing care (so the previous care home can't take her back). She is ready to leave hospital, but I can't get hold of anyone in social services in her London borough. I would really really like her to be moved to where I am, and I know they should be able to transfer, but does anyone have any experience as to whether this is actually achievable. I tried to get her moved before she went into her most recent care home, but it basically required three sections of the council to communicate with each other and the new care home and me, and I just couldn't get it to work. Is this a hiding to nothing? Or should I keep trying? It's over eight hours of driving to visit her at the moment and I have two small kids and a nearly full-time job. I could visit regularly if she was within - say - an hour's drive.

And just to add, we have absolutely no way of funding her care without LA funding. It's thousands a month and we just don't have it. I am really grateful for the help we've received so far. It would just be amazing to be able to visit her more often - and she has to move now anyway.

Generally they expect you to find a home within their budget, location won’t matter. I know people here being funded by London councils

Yes if you find a cheaper option for the council they are likely to support it

I've found two homes half an hour from where I live which could theoretically take her as they have space, but I can't get any information about budget or anything else from the council. I just get bouncebacks from emails. I am talking to the hospital and I have asked them for a copy of her needs assessment, but I haven't received that yet, which makes it extremely hard for me a lay person to explain her needs to the local care homes. Last time I tried to get her moved two years ago, I went round and round in circles and then she was suddenly moved to a care home in the London borough. I know they're so stretched and it is really hard to find care home places.

Thanks. I don't know what the council is paying now - that's the problem. I'd expect my area to be cheaper than London, but it's impossible to get hold of anyone in her current council.

Have you tried the Adult Social Care hub for your council? Google <borough> +adult social care and you should be taken to their contact centre website, then email or complete the online form there. This should get your form routed (eventually) to your mum's social worker.

Also do you have Power of Attorney or Deputyship for your mum?

No, I don't, which is hugely frustrating. We should have arranged it, but there was a sudden medical crisis that she never recovered from.

I will try this. Thank you very much. Last time I went through this, I was speaking regularly to her social worker (I haven't even managed to find out a name this time), but even then, it couldn't be coordinated. (I totally understand that the social worker had a lot on their plate!). I suppose I'm just trying to work out whether this is likely to be doable or not...

Assuming your mum has been assessed to lack capacity, who is managing her affairs currently? Have you been told by her social worker that you'll need to apply for deputyship, or is the local authority intending to do that?

Without deputyship or PoA, you don't really have many legal rights, including moving her to another home. You really need to speak to her social worker to ascertain where things are in terms of capacity and who is currently managing her Best Interests (assuming again she has no capacity). As you're at the discharge planning process, have you been invited to any Best Interests meetings?

Thanks, that is helpful.
She's def not got capacity. She has a DoLs (Deprivation of Liberty) in place. I have emailed the central email for social services and hope I will hear back from an individual soon. I'll ask about Best Interests. They talk to me about the DoLs when it is renewed. I would say I could argue that it would be in his best interests to be close to family because we would visit and advocate for him.

Was the DoLS just in place while she was in hospital, or was it assessed in her care home too? DoLS in hospital isn't the same as being found to be permenantly lacking capacity - as hospitals can apply to temporarily deprive someone of liberty for their own safety during their stay, with the expectation that they will be reassessed once they have medically recovered. Have you received copies of the formal COP capacity assessment forms?

If she's been assessed as lacking capacity in the long term, I'd be surprised that the LA hadn't chased you to apply for deputyship, as they prefer not to act as deputy where a family member is available. Who made the decision for her to go into a home in the first place, or was that done by her when she still had capacity?

The DoLs is in place in the care home too. She went straight from the hospital to the care home. She had complicated mental health issues throughout her life and we were very low contact when she first went to hospital. I will ask about deputyship and COP capacity.

Look at nursing homes in your preferred area and ask the specific question of them 'do you accept local authority rates'?

If the answer is yes ask the local authority OR the discharge co-ordinator at the hospital if they would be willing to agree to a discharge from hospital to an out of area placement which accepts local authority rates.

The local authority your relative is currently in remain responsible for funding and reviewing your relative's care wherever they are discharged to- they will only fund up to the same amount as what the going rate is for the local authority in the area you want to move them to.

It's not impossible, but you will have to do the leg work to move her as otherwise they will just discharge to a local nursing home.

Financial deputyship is only really needed if there are assets and savings to manage. If the OP's relative has no money and no assets and the local authority is funding her care then deputyship is a bit pointless.

It's unusual for a health and welfare deputyship to be granted if normal best interests processes are sufficient to manage the person's care.

I've spoken to local nursing homes and found five that say they take LA rates and have space. They need to talk to the council about my mother's condition etc. I still can't get through to anyone at the council. I've actually now contacted her MP and she's actually immediately sent a brilliant letter to the council. But still no response.

There isn't any money to worry about, so maybe that's why they haven't done this? They have asked me if I am aware of any savings etc, but I don't know anything about her financial situation and she doesn't own a home

Have you asked the Home that you’d like her to move into for advice? They’ve probably been in this situation before.

Thanks for messaging. None of them have been in the situation where it's impossible to get any info out of the council. They all need a proper understanding of her current health conditions before moving forward.

The problem may well be that she is in hospital so it's not actually the local authority anyone needs to speak to at the moment depending on what the discharge arrangements are in her local area.

If this situation was occurring in my local authority then our local arrangement with the hospital is that they make all the discharge arrangements.

Have you spoken to the discharge coordinator on her ward? It might not actually be social services that need to respond or make the info available at this stage?

They should have told you that though if that's the case and not just ignored you.

They will be incredibly busy at the moment though - everyone seems to decide they are going to wait until after Christmas to ring us for assessments and it's peak flu/noro season.