Can anyone help me with year on year care home cost increases? Not sure if this is normal

[RuddyHellItsSoftCell]

Hi, dm’s dementia is at the point where 3 carers’ visits a day isn’t enough. Her behaviour recently meant neighbours called the police, who called an ambulance and she’s been taken to a care home (that we previously looked round) for 3 weeks respite. We were looking into her staying there long term/forever however the contact states a 5.9% increase each year. This has really scared us as costs will nearly double over 10/11 years of this. She’s relatively young (76) and physically pretty healthy so I think we need to be aware she could be there for 20 years plus.
Is this year on year increase normal? Thank you if anyone can help with this.

So as not to ‘drip feed’ she also has a borderline personality diagnosis which has historically included psychotic episodes which she has been hospitalised for a no of times prior to the dementia diagnosis. I was hoping to apply for continuing healthcare funding but the more I read about this the more pessimistic I feel.

Just an update in case it helps anyone else. We've found out that dm shouldn't have been discharged from a and e without an nhs assessment, and apparently if they felt she couldn't go home (which is what we were told), they should have funded the first 6 weeks of her care. We're trying to get this assessment done now and also find out why it wasn't at the time. Unfortunately, dm's house is in one council area, and her gp another, and currently both are saying it's the other one's responsibility. We are hopeful we can get to the bottom of this though, and maybe get a refund for the respite she's already paid for.

They should also help us find a suitable home that meets her needs and give us an idea of what the budget for this will be when her assets are spent.

Thank you for all the help I got here.

Just realised that I wasn't v clear in my op that the ambulance went to a and e where she spent a night before being discharged to the home.

You can take out an insurance policy where you pay a set amount and they cover fees. Bit of a gamble but at least it's a fixed cost.

Every day's a school day
I never heard of 6 weeks free in a care home

You can get 6 weeks free 'reablement' care package at home for free via the NHS but it's not a right it's at their discretion if they feel you have the potential to be 'reabled' Any dementia diagnosis or likely need for permanent care usually invalidates that.

There are sometimes admission prevention schemes like 'discharge to assess' where they send people to a care home for 'assessment' instead of admitting them. Maybe it's something like that but again I would think it would be less a right and more a possibility.

I guess I hadn't been clear that the hospital had arranged the placement. If that's the case and she didn't have a choice then it does seem very unfair she would have to pay. If it's arranged by the hospital and not the LA then the CCG are the people you need to get to pay. I would try to get onto the hospital discharge planning dept. If they arranged the placement then they should have sorted the finances.

Unfortunately, dm's house is in one council area, and her gp another, and currently both are saying it's the other one's responsibility.

We have been through this, except it was DD. I wrote about this to the Sec. of State for Health, who told me it was under NHS England. It is the responsibility of the council where she is ordinarily resident - ie where her house is and what she regards as home.

I believe the six weeks funded care home placement is a Covid related thing. There is funding available to get people out of hospital on a "discharge to assess" basis, in order to free up hospital beds. The cost of the care home is met for that period. My father benefited from it earlier this year.

my late aunt spent almost 20 years in a care home....took over 500k in fees from her savings....when she died there was 46k left and the house which we inherited....fees initially were about 800 a month and then finally almost 1000 a week !

Hi, just thought I'd give an update here. On the advice of our financial advisor we put in a complaint to the hospital, and they have agreed that discharge wasn't completed properly, and that dm's care should be paid for by the NHS until the CHC checklist is complete. This looks like approx 10 weeks of care that it's looking likely we will get back dated to return to dm's estate, which is great news, and once we have the checklist completed we will know a bit more about what sort of budget to look at. Apparantly due to the cross over in terms of which council is responsible, we've now been told that one authority will look after her social care needs, and the other one her health/medical needs.

We're still a bit confused about it all, and it's taking lots of phone calls, letters, emails etc., but I do feel like we're getting closer to getting the support and advice to help us through this time.

No, if the social needs arise from the primary medical problem, then that CCG should pay for it all. Don’t have the CCG paying for the medical needs, and the local authority the social needs - because DM will end up with a financial assessment and paying for her social care, if she has more than £23,250 in assets.

My DD is in a care home, where she gets 1:1 care all her waking hours - that’s meals, bathing, social activities, etc; because she has a medical condition and could die at any time. There is also medical care onsite, which she needs on occasion. It’s all funded by continuing health care.

Yes they can discharge if you said she is self funding and you would arrange a probate paid placement for her. It's great that you feel you are getting somewhere for a discharge to assess / intermediate funding but that is discretionary if they feel she had re-enablement (rehab) potential and decided by the discharge team . Because of COVID you may get somewhere you wouldn't usually have because systems aren't working same way as usual.

But In terms of uplift in fees each year those are kinda steep but it is about contract you signed when you placed her. Don't be stressed by what your LA will do once her funds deplete as they will assess at the time and try their best not to move her unless they think placement is terribly over priced for the care she is receiving

You nor they can predict that
So let her enjoy where she is and take it from when they are involved that they will do their best

Sorry auto incorrect I meant PRIVATE funding not probate funding!