Stroke support and allowance

[Rebecca9210]

Hello.
My grandad had a stroke in Nov. I'm his next of kin and I am trying to learn things quickly! He is coming out of hospital in 6 weeks. We are hoping he can go home with a live in carer. Does anyone know what he is entitled to for support? Someone mentioned he could get things out in his house to help him get around? Has anyone been successful with the Attendance Allowance? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am up every night trying to research everything! X

I had a stroke n August , once home I was visited by a couple of different stroke specialists , one for mental side and one for physical - they arranged for a grab bar to be fitted in bathroom and offered other adjustments

Thank you. I hope you are ok ❤️

I can't see why Attendance Allowance would be a problem, especially if he will need help. It might be time to see if he's entitled to Pension Credit too.

Have you got Health and Finance Power of Attorney in place? If not, I would talk to him to see if he agree to granting these. We found them invaluable when my DF was taken ill.

There's a thread going on in the Elderly Parents Section called something like "what do I need to do to prepare" which has lots of useful tips on dealing with Simone who's health isn't what it was.

It might be worth speaking to the Stroke Association too.

Hope you're recovering too Mrsbyers

Thank you. That's really helpful. Unfortunately he didn't make anyone POA and he has now lost capacity to so we are going throught the court to get Deputy. Apparently due to the pandemic it could take up to 12 months.

Thank you. That's really helpful. Unfortunately he didn't make anyone POA and he has now lost capacity to so we are going throught the court to get Deputy. Apparently due to the pandemic it could take up to 12 months

I don't know how you would feel about doing this but the one way to get it through the Courts more quickly is to make an absolute nuisance of yourself.

Really? I am desperate so happy to do anything!! We were planning to go through a solicitor as the forms are very confusing and I just can't get my head around them at the moment. Do you hav any suggestions on how I can be a nuisance? Thanks in advance! X

Sorry to hear about your gd and hope he is recovering. If he lacks capacity and there is no poa in place who is making decisions for him atm. Has he had a full care needs assessment and a capacity assessment. I am no expert but how can he go home without consenting to leave hospital, have carers, pay for anything, have alterations done at home, take his meds etc. Have the hospital appointed him a social worker and suggested a best interest meeting. I would contact the OPG asap and ask these questions, I think the CoP can make emergency decisions but others may know more. Hatgirl on here is very knowledgeable and maybe move this to Elderly Parents.

Yes I understand what you are saying. We feel completely lost at the moment. As far as I know he hasn't had those assessments. When we ask they say they will get back to us and haven't so far. We have asked many times. At the moment, I am having to pay for all his bills which is really difficult but I don't want him to get into debt. The solicitor said there is nothing we can do until the Deputy comes through but that could be 12 months away. Thank you. I will look for the elderly group now.

The ward should know what assessments he has had especially if they are saying he has lost capacity, if that's the case all his care will be given in his best interests and he may have a Deprivation of Liberty in place. I would try and find out who made that decision, you can call his doctors secretary to ask for a call or if you are getting nowhere PALS can help. Why are they keeping him in hospital for 6 weeks. You need to ask what care he needs, what improvements is he likely to have in his condition and abilities. Look up care needs assessment and the mental capacity act. The Stroke Assocation may help on the website. Do look at the OPG site about one off decisions, I found them very helpful when we were in a similar situation.

Thank you. He is in a stroke rehabilitation ward and he gets 6 weeks there. When he first had the stroke he went to a hospital and was doing well with his progress and could walk well. He fell whilst in his care and had to have an operation. Since then he has lost his ability to walk. We are gutted.

Oh that's awful, poor man. Something very similar happened to a friends dh. The rehab team will hold regular progress meetings and if the plan is for him to eventually go home they need to make sure his house is safe and suitable and determine if he is safe when carers are not there. Do you think residential care might become a option if he cannot walk..

If he has been assessed fir Mental Capacity and can't walk, I think you may be looking at a care home for him, well that was our experience anyway.

Sorry I thought the Court process was already underway.

Hi there OP,

We have moved this thread to Elderly Parents for you, where you should hopefully continue to receive good support and advice.

Thank you. It has just been so horrible. He was so close to coming home and then he broke his hip and it has changed everything. I have had the advice about live in carers and they can support it I just hope that we can have a meeting soon with the hospital because it makes it very hard being in limbo and not knowing what's happening. Is very hard to know what he can and cannot do as we can't see him and get told different information all the time.

Thank you

Has he been allocated a Social Worker? When DMIL was in Hospital it was the Social Worker that helped us most.

The Discharge Clerk in the ward should be able to help you know what's happening too.

When the hospital have decided he is 'medically fit for discharge' he will be referred to the hospital discharge team and he will be allocated a social worker.

Next of kin has no 'legal' standing in terms of decision making if someone is felt to have lost capacity. If you don't have power of attorney then the social worker will be the decision maker over what course of action is in his 'best interests' after discharge. Even if you apply for deputyship it is likely that it will only be awarded for financial decision making and not for decisions about his care.

The social worker will do an assessment to determine what his care needs are. Due to covid and also a policy trend that was happing pre covid this may not be completed in hospital, he may be discharged to a care home under 'discharge to assess' rules.

Wherever this assessment takes place his eligibility for fully funded continuing healthcare will be considered. If he isn't eligible and it remains the responsibility of social services to arrange his care they will look at a range of options and decide what will best meet his needs.

What happens next depends on if he is financially assessed as being able to afford to pay for his care in full himself or if he will be in receipt of funding from the local authority.

If the local authority are paying for it then they will not consider 24 hour live in care at home unless his needs cannot be met elsewhere. If he can afford to pay for it then he/you can do what you like but if he lacks capacity to agree to this and you don't have access to his finances it could be tricky.

If he doesn't need 24 hour care and can return home then social services will look at carers visiting him at home, usually around 4 times a day.

A lot can change in six weeks though, I wouldn't be setting your heart on any particular pathway until you know how well he is doing at the point of being medically fit for discharge.

You can apply for attendance allowance online. It takes about 6 weeks to come through so do it ASAP. It's about £57 a week lower rate, £83 higher rate.

Who will be paying for the care when he comes home? Unless he is paying for it all himself you need to have a care and financial assessment. I would have thought they would deal with this at the hospital but if not you could call adult social care.

Apply for attendance allowance. It's not means tested. Make sure you explain on the form that he needs help with personal care. Get GP or hospital to support the application. He might also be entitled to reablement care for 6 weeks. Ask SS for an assessment.

If a live in carer does become a real possibility then you will need to look at who will cover when the live in is off duty, has days off, holiday, sickness. They will also need to be trained in care and DBS checked, he may need equipment at home and 2 carers to carry out some care. Good luck with e everything, it can feel a real struggle at times.

I was in the same position as you with my mum. I'm not sure how severe the stroke was but my mum came home once the carers were in place to start coming daily, that was arranged by a social worker, she also had speech therapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists involved.