Carers after a stroke

[Melmi256]

I’ll try to keep it short
my husbands mum has a history of complex health issues including cancer.
she had a stroke 4 months ago and currently in rehab , she can’t walk need helps with personal hygiene but can talk use arms , they have suggested looking to release her with carers 4x per day.
we live abroad so cannot support with care.
will this be enough 30 mins 4 x per day ? What happens is she needs toilet in between ? Who does shopping and cleaning - she is relatively young 64 and therefore doesn’t want a care home but I’m assuming more or longer carers she would have to self fund ?
she doesn’t have much in way of income 500 per month private pension , 18k savings but a valuable home.
what will happen if this care isn’t enough ?

Op the link you’ve been given is for attendance allowance your mil needs to claim pip. The first step is a phone call but the claimant needs to be there. I think it would be difficult for you to claim completely on her behalf unless you have power of attorney for her. You will definitely need her national insurance number. I agree with others that perhaps the social worker could help organise this or age uk but your mil would have to agree and co operate in completing the form. Not easy.

It would be PIP. She is only 64.

Yes in the area I am in they will do home visits, help with form filling, benefit checks etc.

Oops, sorry! I forgot she was under retirement age!

Have you considered live in care in the short term to help with rehabilitation and daily care etc? I know this can range from £150 to £175 a day if you have a private carer. Maybe the local authority would part fund and equity release from her home for the rest. Just putting the idea out there. Hopefully mum will recover and the care may be reduced as she improves.

Popping on to give an update to this.
she had an OT assessment and they did a mock up in the stroke rehab center to see how she would get on … ie only people assisting 4x per day for half an hour - she failed and has ended up in a care home (at 64) my husband flew over and visited for the week but obviously as we so far this isn’t practically viable on a regular basis.
she has deteriorated massively , doesn’t appear to socialise within the setting , cannot really form or appear to understand sentences she answers yes or no and that’s it . Is not mobile , can sort of feed herself but not easily and makes a mess and apparently other people in the setting have been making fun of her - doesn’t appear to be getting any ongoing physio as far as we know.
keeps asking to go home which is impossible as she cannot fund live in 24 hour care - it’s very sad , her home will need to be cleared and sold soon as care home feed at ful rate will kick in soon .

Oh I'm sorry to hear that.

There is hope perhaps that she might settle? Don't be afraid to complain HARD about things like her being laughed at. And don't be afraid to look at other homes, they vary a lot and at least when she is self funding she cam choose.

Once the house is sold, could she employ a private physio to come and see her, even if it is only to improve certain small goals? You could even try and find out if anyone else in the home would like to have physio too - to reduce travel expenses if nothing else.

I have to say though it sounds as if she has given up a bit. I hope it's temporary or if not, that at least they are kind to her.

@PermanentTemporary thank you , will look into the private physio , I imagine the house selling will be a long process it’s need a fair bit doing before in saleable condition. The home are aware of the fun making , they are the ones who told us and the response was moving her to a different table with one other person who is non verbal so she now has no conversation:( looking into different homes but the ones which are good have no spaces currently . I think she has probably given up … I can’t blame her she’s just wants to be home and it’s just not possible

No point doing the house up before sale - extra expense and work to organise. Get some estate agents round to value it as is, price to sell and it'll probably be bought by a developer.

I'm a speech therapist working in stroke and a private review with them might be worthwhile too.

I wouldn't do any work to the house if it's being sold to pay for care. Just sell as seen

Attendance Allowance form took me over 10 hours to complete but worth it as mum got £108 per week.

You can do it on her behalf OP and take photo copies of it all as it needs to be re applied for every 3 years and it will make it easier.

I've just realised she's on a home now,sorry x