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Elderly parents

Care in your own home, how much does it cost

15 replies

skyblue11 · 22/11/2013 19:11

About to have mum assessed for this, I understand she will have to pay the full cost until she reaches £23K which won't be long, after than then what. Do they count the house as equity? Is it the same as if she were in a care home in this situation re fees? And how much is it per hour?

OP posts:
jamaisjedors · 22/11/2013 19:15

Would it be live-in?

I contacted an agency for my dad, and live-in would be about the same as a home (£900 a month). I don't think the state would take over the cost of care in your own home, they would transfer you to a home.

Per hour (we use an agency) it's £18 in the East of England, or £10 for someone who does it freelance.

So per hour is totally unaffordable if you need it full-time - for example overnight is £150...

CMOTDibbler · 22/11/2013 19:17

Age UK have a very detailed factsheet on this, but the value of your home is not included in the capital.

My parents pay £17 an hour for care at home, with a private carer (not an agency), though the agency was about the same - though more restrictions

skyblue11 · 23/11/2013 11:24

Thanks, I feel sorry for my Mum, she's has such a poor quality of life, never choosing to go out and all she does is sit on the sofa watching TV, I can't motivate her at all and weighing in at 5.5 stone is a concern as she says she's eating but I have no idea if she is. Either she's forgetting or not motivated. I am dreading next week when we get the diagnosis from her head scan but at least we can move on now we know the reason.
It's hard as she is resistant to people coming to help but she doesn't want the alternative. Something's got to give!

OP posts:
antimatter · 23/11/2013 11:50

my ex's in-laws were not eating properly, in the end his mother had a fall and a long recovery as she was severely undernourished!

5.5 stone indicates that your mother is not getting enough calories, let alone all nutriens

ProfessorDent · 25/11/2013 13:39

Hope someone else chips in with this.

We were persuaded to put mum in a nursing home after my dad pushed the red button and got the ambulance to come round to help her up the floor once too often.

We were not quite informed by the hospital that the minimum for these places, assuming your Dad has saved a fair cop in his many decades, is - brace yourself - £800 a week. Dad was wheedling to get Mum in a home, he is mean and that info would have changed his mind. The only exception is called Primary Care, I think, but that is when someone is on their death bed, has terminal cancer or something, is in dire pain, so gets paid for by the State even if the family can afford it

We sleepwalked into it, we are that kind of family. So well worth avoiding if you can, and you will also avoid all the stress and hassle of getting involved with care homes where frankly you have little or no leverage, read some of the posts on other threads if you want an idea of what to expect. There are no review websites for care homes like with Amazon or TripAdvisor. You find out what they're really like after you've signed up. But it does depend if you have anyone else to help out, like a spouse, during the day, when it comes to getting carers in.

BTW: Care Home = Resident can feed themselves.
Nursing Home = Resident can't feed themselves, needs carer to help with it. This costs more, and with fewer nursing homes around, limits your options. Many nursing homes have screamers and dementia patients, but some have the flavour of a care home where some of the residents are compos mentis, not all of them need 'nursing' treatment and create a more genteel air.
'Nursing' home does not mean resident is on their sick bed, about to have a heart attack necessarily, it just means at a minmum they need feeding. My Mum doesn't really need 'nursing' just feeding, but a nursing home it has to be, it seems.

tweetytwat · 25/11/2013 13:45

NH costs vary enormously. In my area you can get one for 450 - 500 a week.

Whether or not they need nursing home or care home is not quite as simple as help with feeding or not - if they need only social care then residential will be enough, eg the things a carer would do at home - help to wash and dress, prompting to take medication.

Help that needs to be delivered by, or overseen by, a nurse would warrant nursing home care. So someone frail and not mobile may need nursing care if they are at risk of pressure sores, need significant assistance with continence or mobility, monitoring of blood sugar levels etc for example.

Many homes have a mix of 'residential' and 'nursing' residents.

WynkenBlynkenandNod · 25/11/2013 13:46

The house isn't counted when the care is in your own home. I think there is some kind of sliding scale down to about 14k but am a bit hazy.

Mum came out under the 14k plus had a monthly income of about £1200 including her attendance allowance. The amount she was charged for care via a SS care package was pretty much what she got in as attendance allowance. Potentially that would have covered 4 visits a day.

Goldencity1 · 26/11/2013 14:14

MiL has 4 visits per day, she is 80, has parkinsons and very poor mobility. On a good day she can just about get herself dressed and maybe make a cup of tea and shuffle to the loo. Most of the time she can't. The carers come in to get her up, dressed and "personal care" and fed. Shorter visits at lunch and tea time for the loo and food. They don't cook as such, ready meals and sandwiches only. At bed time, they help her get undressed and help in the bathroom.

She gets the higher rate of attendance allowance, but no other benefits than her pension and has her "nest egg" in the bank....she pays about £30 a week as her contribution. The value of her house wasn't counted towards this, but her savings were.

She also has a bracelet with an emergency button to call the mobile warden [think that's about £100 per month as well].

She moans bitterly about having to pay "all that money" and about how useless the carers are....but as we all tell her whats the alternative if she want to stay in her own home?

skyblue11 · 26/11/2013 16:36

Today was a bad day for me, just had the diagnosis of Front temporal dementia. Kind of adds up but I feel a bit raw still. I did some research and ended up feeling pretty emotional.

Well, Mum gets pension credit, I think I should be applying for AA but she doesn't need care in the night so we mightn't qualify for it. She just gets the basic pension and about £3 per week pens credit and as she has slightly over the 23K she will pay the full £12-15 per hour £11k per year. That'll soon get her under the limit! She desperately needs a new sofa and fridge but I can't motivate her to come with me to get one, I want her to get some joy with her savings as she will be using it all for her care very soon.

OP posts:
whataboutbob · 26/11/2013 20:36

Hi sky blue very sorry to hear about your mum. It just seems so unfair when both your parents are affected.
My dad gets AA and he does not require care at night. He s in the lower band but it s still a good £200 pm and not means tested. Well worth applying for.

skyblue11 · 26/11/2013 20:54

Thanks whatabout....I can try for nothing for her..

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Goldencity1 · 26/11/2013 22:39

Someone from ageconcern help mil fill in the forms....they might be worth a call as they knew exactly how to word the answers. Mil said she didn't need help in the night, but she has fallen on the way to the loo at night, so got the higher level....

whataboutbob · 27/11/2013 15:48

Yes it costs nothing to try. I rang the number which I found on the net to request the form. When he was granted AA they backdated it to the date I'd ordered the form so it's worth starting as soon as you feel ready.As advised by the person I spoke to on the benefits line I filled it in as if I was Dad with sentences such as "I sometimes forget to eat" "I can have trouble getting dressed". They wanted his GP's address, the GP was in the picture and I think must have provided corroborating info. Anyway it took a few weeks but he got it no problem.

skyblue11 · 29/11/2013 13:39

It took me over 3 hours to apply on line. Hit the submit button and.....blank screen I could have screamed. They can't tell me if it's gone through for over a week?? It was incredibly hard to apply and I believe it was this way for a reason....

OP posts:
whataboutbob · 30/11/2013 17:26

Sorry sky blue that must have been unbelievably frustrating. I think all benefits save maybe child benefits have a level of trickiness in the application, I guess they don t want it to be too easy. Do they still do hard copies of the application form? Maybe it wold be best to do that one. Remember you ll get at least £ 200 per month so it s worth it.

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