Cost of Live in care

[Borntobeamum]

Dad passed away Friday and mum was in a care home for respite until he came home.
She now wants to go home but it really isn’t feasible. My brother and I live an hour away and she has been referred for a dementia diagnosis.
She can still have quite lucid days but has no idea of day/time and needs help with all her personal needs.
Can anyone give me a rough idea of live in care please?
This is in Yorkshire.
Many thanks.

Sorry to hear about your dad. Your mum really needs some assessments first before you help her decide. Have you got power of attorney. She needs a care needs assessment, a capacity assessment, possibly a therapist to visit her house to see if its safe and suitable for her or if she would benefit from some adaptations. You would be looking at £25 ph where I live, you would need 2 carers for when the live in is off duty, asleep etc. Will she be paying for this herself, is the house set up for a live in carer. Homestead always get good reviews, what part of the country are you in. She can get financial help too.

That works out to £4,200 per week at £25 per hour for 24/7 care. There still has to be enough money to run the house.

Although the rate of pay is probably cheaper at night.

you could look at the Helping Hands site, they offer packages for live in carers

We’ve looked into this for my mum who has Alzheimer’s and lives with my dad who is in good health but struggles to cope. We have been given figures of around £2000 per week.
I am so sorry for your loss.

That sounds reasonable
. , are there extra costs like insurance, holiday, sickness, meals, utilities. Are they self employed.

Agencies would help

Not sure where in the country it costs £4k a week?

Round here (middle England) it's about £1200/1300 per week. That's with a reputable agency.

You can get private a little cheaper.

You'd need two on a rotation.

Would she be self funding this?

Please don't opt for live in care without having a full social care assessment. Your mother is entitled to one. A social worker can then advise her and you on options.

If you do decide to opt for live in care, it's about £1000 per week.

Thank you all for your input.
We’ve had a quote for £1225 a week.
Mum would be self funding but doesn’t have an endless supply of money so the house would have to be sold.
We would get an assessment prior to arranging this, but I’m 99% certain they would recommend a care home instead.

Whilst the lady I spoke to made it sound so easy and simple - door alarm, pressure mat by bed etc, I do live in the real world and I just cannot see it happening.

I think it only works if you have someone nearby who can 'cover' when it goes wrong. We've had carers not turn up and elderly relative was left alone for a few hours. There's a lot of organising for food shop etc. Some carers are better than others at cooking etc, they still need days off/breaks and you'll need someone else to cover those if your mum can't be left at all. I don't think it's as simple/easy as it's made out to be.

Live in care can be a brilliant option and if you use a reputable agency it really can work without family input. The company I work for charge from £1300 per week plus £40 per week food allowance for the carer. If the customer can’t be left alone at all for the carer to take short breaks, then an additional 2 hours of day care would be needed per day to give the live-in some time off. A good company will always be able to provide replacement care if the carer is sick or needs holiday. Have a look on Homecare.co.uk to read reviews of companies in your mum’s area or maybe ask on social media if anyone could recommend a good local company.

One thing to bear in mind though is that if the house has to be sold to pay for the care, residential care may be the only option. It is not unheard of for NHS continuing healthcare to pay for live in care if you can secure funding but this is probably a long shot.

I echo what @AutumnDaysDawn said. My mum was looked after at home with advanced dementia until the end. We had carers with her, but I was the stop gap to cover sickness, holiday, do stuff around the house, do the garden etc. it was pretty intense.

If her home is sold, she can’t have care at home.

I’ve tried to explain to DM that as soon as the savings has gone, the house will need to be sold.
Her answer was ‘well put me in a mental hospital because you’re all making out I’m stupid’.
She also said some really hurtful things which just isn’t like her.
All this happened at the hotel we’d gone to to see about holding the wake there after DF’s funeral.
It was such a traumatic time

We've just started using an agency supplied live in carer.

With personal care for both my parents, the cost is around £1400 per week. She takes 2 hours off the afternoon but makes sure that they're both well and settled. She was a little worried about my Dad on Saturday so had her door open to listen out for him. It's the things like that.

She has massively helped, but it's still not a magic wand. My sister and I are still dealing with their finances and ordering food and other shopping for them.

A disabled friend has this, it costs just over £1000 per week. She manages it herself without family input - orders shopping online for delivery.

She does have to pay for an additional carer for 2-3 hours each morning so the live-in carer gets a break and for one day a week too. The food bought has to provide for the carer too. Some of them haven't been very good at cooking. It has been hard to get a carer who drives which then caused difficulty getting to medical appointments.
The live-in carers tended to work in 3 month blocks (often foreign students saving up as you can't really do anything else whilst living-in!), so repeat training needed. Some have been excellent, others not so good.

I'm so sorry to hear this. It all sounds unbearably stressful. So sorry to hear about your Dad.

My mum (with advanced dementia) has been in a home for a year now. We worked between us to keep her at home as long as possible, but in hindsight the home was a better option for her later on.

-An environment designed for dementia patients, not lots of rooms where things were endlessly going missing, lovely staff, so it isn't so intense and difficult like it was between her and my Dad. Activities and always people around. I'd just say we were maybe mistaken in thinking home was definitely the better place as time went on.

Really hope things sort out for you all.

I think , no I KNOW we’ve made the correct decision for mum. The staff are amazing and have given me so many warm hugs make me realise that she’s in the safety place.
There are only 15 residents so quite homely.
Unfortunately many have dementia and on her ‘good’ days, she craves conversation.

Ive questioned myself so much, could I do more? Could she move in with me? Should I move her closer to me? I live 50 miles away so each visit has to be planned in advance.

Thank you all for your lovely messages x