Social services assessment

[Motherofson]

My 92 year old mum has just come out of hospital after a fall and is still very frail. She lives in a retirement apartment and has the help of carers three times a day but it is becoming apparent that she needs more help. The family are thinking she now needs to go in a care home. Is there any point in asking for a care assessment (if that's the correct term) from social services as she would be self funding.Tia .

It's worth it because should her funding run out they will be paying plus they will be knowledgeable about options in the area

No it's not worth it and it will slow things down. Just choose your own care home. It only takes a phone call to check availability.

Thank you gotomomo. That's really helpful. I think I'll start the ball rolling on Monday

What does she think and want? If she’s self funding then she can have carers in for longer and more often, although some care homes are lovely.

It depends on how long she can afford to self-fund. If forever then don’t bother, just choose somewhere nice. If it’s foreseeable that her money will run out and she will need to be funded then try for an assessment or at least research which homes take both self funding and council funded residents and choose one of those.

I don't know what she wants to be honest. She was desperate to get home from hospital. We have increased the carers, who are wonderful. She is extremely frail though. She tells me she wants to stay at home as long as possible but she has told a visiting friend she doesn't feel safe and wants to be in a home. I think she is unrealistic about how long her money will last and that worries me. I don't know what to do for the best. I was hoping if social services say she needs to go in a home that might help us make a decision.

Sorry different name but same op. Just a different device.

Sounds like she could do with a care needs assessment to me, which is different to a financial assessment. I would go and have a look at a few homes, just turn up at a few around meal times, that'll give you a really good idea of how organised they are!
You'll need to chat and family finds all agrees with thats sr she wants if she forgets does that we're her daughters/ history.
I will phone let my mum know x

A care needs assessment might be helpful, indicate whether care home or nursing home is needed, and give more weight to the decision.

You don’t need to do a financial assessment if she’s self funding from savings long enough for you to sell the house. You may need one if immediate sale of the house is required, no experience of that.

If she’s completely self funded, and she hasn’t yet got it, get Attendance Allowance. It’ll only pay a small proportion of the fees, but every little bit helps.

It may differ in other areas but when we requested this for an elderly relative after a hospital stay, the relative told the visiting assessor they did not want care and as they were self funding they were simply given information about local care agencies. I think SS are so overwhelmed that they probably focus on people who have no other option than SS funded care, and leave self funders/those with relatives to assist with arrangements to get on with it themselves.

Thanks all. We do already have the full attendance allowance. Am I correct in thinking that you do not need to sell the house to pay for fees until after the elderly person has died?

No thats not correct unfortunately. Care homes need to be paid monthly in advance so that they can meet all their own financial commitments. They cannot wait for someone to die before they get paid, they'd go out of business.

@NotSuchASmugMarried Ahh. Thanks. That makes sense.

I suggest that if she hasn’t already done so, she applies for a LPA so that if she loses capacity someone else can make financial decisions on her behalf.
And yes, her house would have to be sold to fund her care unless the local authority agree to fund it and put a charge against the house. If this were the case, she certainly would need a needs assessment and financial assessment carried out asap.

We do have poa thank goodness.