Practical/Financial advice please

[MABS]

I have posted this on another thread, so apologies for duplication but am desperate for information/help please.

90 year old FIL has been in hospital 6 weeks tomorrow and is getting a bit better, diabetic, kidney infection, severe bladder infections, various things in last 6 weeks.

He lives alone, nearest family is my dh, 40 mins away and he works in London, as do I. Docs keep saying to FIL, you can go home soon! am horrified. No OT has visited house, only saw him briefly to do a stair test. NO SW has seen him at all, no financial assessments etc.

He does not have a bathroom downstairs at home, steep stairs and can barely walk, just off oxygen for COPD but no idea how long for. Where do we start!?

He own his house but we have no idea what he has in the bank, what does this £23000 figure mentioned earlier mean?

We feel he could cope at home if he has a daily carer pop in, stairlift, walking frames etc, but does he need to pay all this? he gets low rate att allowance and his pension, but nothing else I know of.

Thanks so much for reading this

If he has less than 23k assets (not including the house ) then SS do a financial assessment looking at his incomings and will come up with a weekly figure he would need to pay. My Mother for example had to pay about £50 a week which the Attendance Allowance covered.

I think you need to speak to the Hospital SW and ask for a Multi Disciplinary meeting before he is discharged to fully ascertain his needs. Where we live there is a 'Reablement Team' who visit for 6 weeks after discharge to make sure care needs are being met. This included SW, daily carers, OT and physio.

Be very clear what you can and can't do as there can be an assumption that family will sort everything.

THANK YOU so very much, really appreciate it. hospital have done nothing, no sw involved, nothing . If he has more than 23K, I have no idea and he very secretive, how do we know what equipment/carers he needs? can we still involve SW for advice on what he has to buy/hire/pay for if he is self funding? or are we on our own? I have truly no idea what an OT might think he needs to be safe at home.

Hospital usually don't contact sw until they are due for discharge- crazy I know!

If your FIL tends to be secretive, I'd ask to speak to the ward SW and make sure they are very clear that there is not any family around to care for home, his house is unsuitable when he can't climb stairs etc. Because it is far from unknown for scared elderly people to lie through their teeth about their situation because getting home is everything and they worry that if its found 'by the social' that they can't cope they'll be dragged off to a home

Thanks so much, brilliant advice