house sale to fund nursing home - help!

[maisym]

having to sell a relatives home as they'll have to pay for nursing home care. They are in hospital at the moment with terminal cancer & the hospital has arranged for them to go to a nursing home.

• can we oppose this? - we think they're best off in hospital.

• if we have to sell their house what's the fastest way as they'll need every penny to pay for their care.

• what happens when the money runs out?

thannks for your help

thanks CH - we've only had two days notice of the care home move! so we'll have to act fast to her access to her money from her house - not much.

does anyone know what would happen if no-one wanted to buy the house? Houses in her area can be slow moving.

you'll need to organise power of attorney pronto as well if you're going to be acting on her behalf - she can also sign her own cheques etc if you get it, it just means you can also do stuff like that
if savings are less than, I think 16000, then the first 9? weeks are paid for by the local council then nursing care is paid for but social care is not - this is usually fiddled to mean the council pay as little as pos.
it's often ok to just put the house on the market and if it doesn't sell, the nursing home will agree to get their money once it is sold but apparently this can be a bit tricky when the sale goes through (no idea why this would be the case though)
agree you need to speak to her social worker who will hopefully be really helpful, if perhaps hard to get hold of at times
have you checked out the details of the nursing home? some are not all that great.

oh yes, forgot, you can also save money straight away by telling the council she's in hospital/nursing home and getting her council tax bill stopped, cancelling direct debits for gas/elec etc and just paying based on readings which will be really low now. we also found out my gdad had been overpaying and powergen owed him over a grand

the nursing home seems to offer super surroundings and care for the terminally ill but it's also a home for those who need assited living. I don't know the costs but it looks really expensive. Her care in hospital, invilves lots of drugs, physio, care of blisters, a special bed to stop bed sores, equipment for moving around (she can only walk a few paces) - plus now mrsa care and assessment after her stoke.

thanks for the tips morocco - will act quick on this. Perhaps we could get the meters read now in case she's been over paying.

wwe've asked about poa but she says no - plus to pay her bills she refuses to sign for direct debit. This takes 40mins plus on the phone to sort out each month for each utility.

glad the nursing home seems nice. to give you an idea, my gdad has motor neurone and needs meds, pressure cushions, can't move by himself, physio. he has to pay for most if not all of his care (still being assessed) as nursing care seems to be things only a nurse can do. mostly they get the care assistants to do most stuff. it's £650 a week for his care home. it is expensive but his life expectancy is no more than 2 years so the house will easily cover it. it's awful the way you have to think about these things

keep pestering about the poa, perhaps she thinks it means losing control of her finances, you can present it as 'sharing' not 'taking over'. it is really hard to do stuff esp estate agents/selling etc without it. it's really very difficult, i know, when people don't want to accept this kind of thing

morocco - sorry to hear about your gdad - happy he's getting good care - thanks for the reassurance

it's going to be alot of change for her. We'd like to et a poa whilst she's still mentally able but don't think she'll agree. With selling a house it's going to be alot for her & she has enough to cope with.

Just to say as I think others have your relative should be eligible for a continuing health care assessment. I know it's horrible to talk about but if they have a documented prognosis of less than 12 weeks they are eligble for this. If they have a discharge co-ordinator ask to speak to them or the Nurse in charge. If you're struggling to get help with it ask to speak to PALS.

Sorry just re read are they moving her in two days?

thanks poptot - gosh 12 weeks - it might just be about 12 weeks into her hospital stay. She went in on the 12th March.

yes - my sister got a call this morning to say that on thursday she's going to a care home!

just worked it out - it's 12 weeks today!!!!

could they be kicking her out to free up a bed for their figures?

I'll update tomorrow on what happens when we try to talk to the hosiptal & social worker. Lets hope they get over their block of the phone as they like to talk to families together rather than deal with a situation that as we can't travel.

maisym sorry I meant the doctors need to give a prognosis that it is unlikely that the patient will survive for longer than twelve weeks. That is what they. consider to be terminal to be eligible for continuing health care. Other thing is if she's going into a care home on Thursday unless it's owned by the hospital her case will have been assessed by a panel for nursing home funding. There is such a thing as a twelve week property disregard but it's all a bit complicated. You really need to get someone to talk to you and explain what's going on.

thanks for the info poptot - got abit carried away with the weeks in hospital detective work!

I'll ask how an assessment has been made and also how a financial assessment as been worked out. The social worker said she'd asked her if has had more than 22,000 in the bank & that she'd said she had lots! She doesn't have this much money - she lives in a house without a proper kitchen to give an idea of the situation.

my gdad was similar, maisy, he also claimed to have loadsamoney stashed away. they don't like people nosying into their affairs, and who can blame them? I'm sure if you can run through the bank statements with the s/w they will be very understanding - must happen all the time

good idea morocco - we can easily print out some statements. She also has some bills to pay that we are trying to organise - we'll have to write down the amounts to be clear for the sw.

When my MIL was transferred from hospital into a home a few years ago, the LA paid for the first 12 weeks. However they only paid a flat charge of £450 a week, whereas anywhere decent charged £650 a week. She was expected to make up the shortfall.

The nursing home were fine and just rolled up the bills until the house was sold (5 months later).

We had to challenge the assessment which said that she didn't need nursing care (only social care).

The other thing that caused a problem, was that the Nursing Home had a differential pricing policy - self funders were charged more than local authority funders - making it even more expensive.

thanks for thre info smiley - shocking that they charge self funders more.

Our relative has some savings but will have to sell her house - it's in a state & doesn't have a proper kitchen as she was doing this before she became ill. Now she wont be able to spend her savings as she had planned but on her care home & her house will sell for alot less (wont go for much though)

Hello Maisym, sounds like you are going through a tough time at the moment...so many unanswered questions, it must be very frustrating.

Have you spoken with the s/w?

And, just wondering what the difference between a nursing home and a hospice is? Sorry for the dumb question.

I repeat, Maisy. your relative almost certainly fits the criteria for Continuing Care and as such will not have to pay for her care. Please pursue this with the hospital as all the worry about selling her property to fund the placement would be irrelevent. Contiuing Care places are paid for entlirely by the NHS. You do need to get advice about this as the hospital may plead ignorance.