Guidance on nursing home following stroke

[notaflyingmonkey]

DM (94) is currently in hospital following a second stroke which has left her physically incapacitated and mentally impaired. I was told today that she would need to be released to a nursing home on discharge. Does anyone have any guidance on where to start?

Does she have a social worker?
We were in this position 2 years ago with my dad, and the social worker found a place for him to go. It took quite a lot of pushing from us to get everything organised though.
Have you tried Age UK or the Stroke Association?

Try Care seekers who will ask what mums needs are and then give you a list of suitable options that have availability.
Also use CQC( care quality commission) website to see how local homes were treated on inspection.

Is she self funding or will the council be funding her? Does she qualify for CHC or for Funded Nursing Portion (google/ask the discharge team/nursing staff).

If the council are funding then social services will find suitable options with spaces; if you are lucky there will be a choice.

If self funding then Care Seekers (or whichever organisation her hospital uses) can be brilliant. I’d recommend looking at the options closest to you to make visiting easier, check CQC (but check dates and that the current manager is the one there when the last inspection was done). Ask how long the current manager has been in place, and if they are new how long the one before (turnover is bad). Fees can be hard for them to estimate - there will be an accommodation portion and a care portion and they wont be able to give you a hard figure until they have assessed her.

Thank you everyone - they are all really great tips that will give me somewhere to start.

She will be self funding at the start - I will need to sell her house - but I suspect that money won't last for long.

Both MIL and mum were self funders, both had help from their LA (different ones) in finding a place. For mum I had to call the nursing home but the social worker had found the vacancy, the phone number and already called them. You could speak to the hospital social work team and ask them what support they will be giving closer to discharge.

Choose somewhere convenient for the main visitor, the idea of keeping them in the community they know is irrelevant at the moment. Even if your mother were to make a full recovery she's not going anywhere because of covid.

The county council website may be useful- their brokers arrange care.
If there is a choice go for recommendations and don’t be swayed by facilities she will never use. Local gos etc may have views.
Visit if at all possible. Age uk has helpful web pages.
And look after yourself.xx

@notaflyingmonkey Lots to get your head around here. We were at the same stage with FIL this time last year. In hospital but needed to go to a care home self funded. We looked online at local reviews and got on the phone to speak to the managers and find out availability. It was surprisingly easy to secure a place for him and the hospital took him in an ambulance to the home.

In the end you might not have a huge amount of choice and that might not necessarily be a bad thing. I know of two people who had to ‘take it or leave it’ during pandemic and it worked out ok.

However, if you do get a choice, then I’d favour somewhere where the manager and or management team have been in position for several years. Constantly changing leadership brings issues.

I found the Age UK website really helpful with info about homes and funding.

When we were in a similar position, the discharge nurse at the hospital arranged a meeting with us and a social worker. The social worker had provisionally reserved the only remaining bed at the only local nursing home which had availability. We visited immediately after the meeting, took 24 hours to discuss as a family, then said yes, and then the discharge nurse organised it from there.

Call your local Age UK. They should be able to advise on care homes, the financial ins and outs, who to contact, etc.

You'll be lucky to get a social worker in a hospital as all been 'working from home' since covid and it is left for Occupational Therapist and Discharge coordinators to sort out. In our hospital at the moment they go to a temporary 'complex discharge bed' arranged by the discharge coordinators which is in a care home funded by the Trust and social services until permanent bed found in order to free up the acute hospital bed. Also gives you time to sort things out. I would recommend speaking to the ward manager or discharge team to see what the system is in place at your relative's hospital as it does seem to vary but they should be helping you.

@notaflyingmonkey

Thank you everyone - they are all really great tips that will give me somewhere to start.

She will be self funding at the start - I will need to sell her house - but I suspect that money won't last for long.

If she’s completely self funding, apply for Attendance Allowance. £89 per week higher rate. It all helps.

As @Mum5net said up thread, we had no choice in the end. The hospital social worker found her a place that had a bed available, could meet her needs, and was taking in new admissions (Covid still raging round here).

My understanding is that the formal assessment of needs/funding has to be done within four weeks, and then I guess we are looking at a more long term placement.