If your lo has dementia and is in a care facility, how much is it costing per week.

[TheSummerGrinch]

I know it all depends the area etc.

Mum has Alzheimer's, 7 years in to it now.

She wasn't doing too badly, she lives at home with dad and between my sister and I and a morning carer we were doing ok. Mum was (mainly) continent and went to a day centre twice a week. Things were stressful as they are with dementia but ok.

However, that all changed 6 weeks ago. Mum fell in the garden breaking her hand, dislocating her knee and fracturing her neck. Although mum is ok now with her physical injuries the 3 week stay in hospital has exacerbated her dementia. They allowed her to toilet in the bed and now she is double incontinent.

She came home two weeks ago. She is still often double incontinent although the carers are able to get her on the commode or toilet. They can also get her walking with support and a frame but she is still very weak (she also has osteoporosis and breast cancer). Our carers are wonderful but it's hard going.

We have 6 carers working on a rota 4 times a day but it's very expensive and it still leaves 20 hours a day where mum is either in mine, my sister's or my elderly father's care. We are exhausted and miserable.

We never wanted to put mum in care, no one does but I can't help thinking for maybe not much more than we are paying for the carers to come 4 hours a day we could have mum looked after 24/7 and gain some life back for ourselves?

Tbh, I hate to even contemplate it, I hate the thought of her in care but I'm done. Going to my parents on an almost daily basis has wiped me out.

How much do you pay for a care home privately?

Have you got LPA s in place? I do hope so as it means decision making is easier but don’t underestimate how time consuming it can be - even after 3 years I still spend several hours a week sorting his stuff out

In East Midlands, we are looking at about £1500 a week for my mum who is just moving into advanced stage dementia, nearly incontinent, very high care needs.
We are in blocks of 2 week respite at the minute but it's clear this will soon be permanent.

The first stay, she refused nearly all care and hid all her belongings all over the dementia unit so a few things got lost, but we are working with the care home to get her more settled. But she liked the company of the carers and other residents.

Mum was in a place that cost £1900 a week (very highly specialist) but is now so frail that her behaviour is much easier to manage and we were able to move her much nearer to a place that costs £1500 a week.

Incontinence plus cognitive impairment is a combination that makes care at home almost impossible imo. I hope you will go ahead and know that you are making the best decision you can in circumstances that nobody would choose.

how do people afford these fees? Average worker earns around £3000 a month. Even if no other expenses, this is less than the care home fees

Ours was £2,500 per week in eastern Scotland. Excellent home with round the clock care on a dementia ward. My loved one went in after becoming doubly incontinent and refusing to be cleared up etc. just impossible to look after at home. Care at home takes a huge toll on family members.

They have to sell their homes!!!

£1200 per week, East Anglia, specialist dementia care home (not nursing).

What if their homes aren’t worth much, and/or other people live there so can’t be sold? Genuine question.

@Truetoself sale of Mums flat pays for her (she had a short period of Chc funding when she was violent to staff (terrified, unmedicated). When the money gets down to about £23000 or just before that happens, social services will do a financial assessment and consider whether they will pay for care at the current home or whether they will want her to move somewhere else. Mum has already outlived all predictions by about 3x and I’ve done deathbed vigils four times. She’s been on palliative care only for a very long time. Tough bird.

£2000 per week nearly, Oxfordshire.

My brothers care home is £2300 a week in Berkshire.

Yes luckily I insisted on full POA as soon as mum was diagnosed as I am one for researching into everything and had read endless accounts from people further along than us, all stating how important it was to have set in place.

Currently if you have any savings above £23,500 this will be used for care and then the government step in to cover the costs. If someone owns their own home but a partner lives in it they stay until they die then the care cost will be taken from the estate.

Some care homes will move the person out as soon as their money runs out, into a care home which is government funded approved which is bloody awful imo. All the care homes that I've spoken to locally tell me they don't do this but the FB carers groups I follow tell a different story. I just hope we never have to face this issue, how stressful for the family.

As soon as mum was diagnosed my dad placed his half of their property into a trust.

My dad is in care with alzheimers and vascular dementia. South east. It entirely depends on the financial situation of you mum and dad. Full cost, yes about 7-8k, but if money is tight, it is funded, to an extent, by the authorities. Does your mum have a social worker to talk you through all this?

£1800 pw, Edinburgh. This was for full nursing care - osteoporosis, Parkinson’s, dementia, doubly incontinent and entirely immobile. And no, she didn’t qualify for CHC.

Because she didn’t have two brass farthings to rub together (part time secretary, didn’t work much, savings in FIL name) this was entirely tax payer funded. That’s about £421,400 in total over 4.5 years.

£2200/week SE Scotland

The last bit of your post - what does it mean, putting half of the house into trust? Who does the trust belong to? Does that mean the government can't take money from the house when it's sold to pay for the care home? Sorry, really dumb questions!

While your dad is at home, the home won't be considered at all.

£8k per month for a good nursing home with a good staff/resident ratio. They were really the only home open to accommodating mums challenging needs (she screams and cries so was kicked out of the previous care home, despite this being quite a common dementia). She’s self funding and the figures terrify me, 2 months fees is more than I earn in a year. If I ever need to go into a care home it will be nowhere near as posh!

Sending you best wishes - we moved our mother into a care home last week. (£2100 per week; Edinburgh for residential dementia care) . She had been living on her own at home with carers four times a day, and my sister and I close by and with cameras etc, but in the space of 7weeks she had three emergency trips in an ambulance, 3 weeks in hospital, fell down stairs twice and elsewhere in the house several times. We came to the conclusion that we could no longer keep her safe at home, and she agreed. We are selling her home to cover the costs for as long as possible. It's not been a wonderful life affirming experience, but she is at least physically safe, seems happy (her dementia seems much worse out of her familiar surroundings) and hopefully will be able to enjoy some of the activities when she has settled in.

Sadly, SS were not interested as soon as they discovered my parents have a lot more than £23500 in savings.

I imagine we will need to full fund a care home just we have done so far with private carers.

We were advised by our solicitor to do this to protect dad's side of the property for if and when mum goes into care.
Yes, it should mean they can't take dad's half but if course if he needs care at any point in the future then it will still need to go towards looking after him.

It truly is terrifying. Tbh, before mum was diagnosed with dementia I naively had no idea care home fees were so expensive. I think a lot of people are blindsided by the cost.

I hope it goes well for you all ❤️

So my DF has just gone into a care home. We are self-funding but will only be doing this for around 6 months so we have chosen a home that we know our LA works with, so hoping that when the time comes he won't have to move.

It is cheaper than some of the quotes on here. Interestingly DM will still be entitled to half of his occupational pension when his savings run out and can live in their house. The value of the house should be disregarded on financial assessment because it is DM's only home and she has lives there with Dad for 15 years. So money won't be reclaimed when he does because is disregarded. Age UK and the Alzheimer's society have been really helpful. Adult social care less so!