Breaking down the cost of care

I think my friends mum pays about that and it’s not a new built but a home with a good reputation

As far as I know most Nursing Homes (not Care Homes) are private businesses and can basically charge what they like. All of the Homes that I investigated for my mother last year charged in excess of £1,000 a week, and this did not seem to reflect quality or buildings, but they do need to employ a certain number of qualified nurses, depending on size. You can usually gauge the best ones by the length of their waiting list! Care is means tested and the local council will part fund if a person has less than £16,000 (including value of house, investments etc). The fees do not cover many extras either. In some cases you can apply for Continuing NHS Care to fund, but this is extremely difficult to apply for and get, and in my experience a person has to need total 24 hour medical care to meet the criteria.

There are many many cases where continuing care funding applies, but the whole system works to put people off doing this. And it is important to remember that continuing care funding can be paid for care WHEREVER it is given: own home, residential home, nursing home.

Many of those telling folk that they do not qualify simply do not know the rules and get it completely wrong.

I would strongly advise anyone looking into this to google for a specialist solicitor, or do what I did and buy the book that is available online and follow its advice to the letter. The cost of these is a drop in the bucket compared with what can be saved.

When the assessment meeting was held I had it all at my fingertips; and I had filled in the assessment form (which I had downloaded) myself already so my reasoning was clear. They could see that I was not about to fobbed off.

The essence of continuing care findong is that in law the NHS is obliged to provide nursing care to all those who need it.

Now.....the other side of this coin is of course that if everyone who qualified for CCF got it, the NHS would collapse instantly through lack of funds!

Please also do not be bamboozled into paying family top-ups.

PS - the one thing you can bet your bottom dollar on is that the carers are being paid a pittance.

They are not obliged to show a breakdown of costs unless they are a charity, where general costs must be shown in the annual audit.

A good care home will be happy to show you a general breakdown though. You will see that it is good because of the quality and number of staff employed. The two go hand in hand.

Not always Luckygirl. Check out the Methodist Care Homes!

The cost is what it is! Check out Ageuk website to see what might apply in your friends case

Not all homes are registered for dementia care.

Lucky, can you provide a link to the book please or tell me the name of it, as we are facing this situation at the moment.

Dementia patients do require an extra level of care and supervision, beyond the care provided for those in the early stages of dementia. This requires extra staffing and more qualified staff.

Thank you Dolcelatte. I was going to ask the same question.

Funding sounds complicated and is not making a lot of sense to me. For example, on ukcareguide.co.uk/care-home-costs/ ... it explains that if you have capital of more than £23250 you have to fund your care but says that private and state pensions may count towards that sum. How does pension income suddenly become capital?

caretobedifferent.co.uk/about/how-we-help/

Here's the link - go down the page and you can download the book digitally. It really helped me.

The assessment forms are in the book so you can look at the criteria in detail and fill them in yourself so you are ready to challenge any mistakes that are made - and believe me they are made!!

The website is called "Care to be Different."

You need to download Age UK fact sheet 39 (I hope) to understand how pensions are used.
I understand the whole of the state pension is included but in the case of a man with an occupational pension, in spite of what the SW will tell you, only half can be taken for care while the wife is alive and she can't be made to leave/sell the house.
I rang AGE UK and good this info 2 weeks ago.

Thank you Luckygirl.

By the way, if you receive continuing care funding it is completely independent of what you earn/your pension/your assets. It is essentially the same situation as if you were in an NHS hospital.

Yes, thanks Lucky, much appreciated!

You are right about the funding for Continuing Health Care Luckygirl in that the money is not there to support it. I applied for Checklist for my mother earlier this year. She lives alone. Has LA carers four times a day. Cannot walk, after a fall last year, and needs help with all her needs. She is on controlled drugs for severe pain, and all medication administered by carers, she is in incontinent pads, and has been diagnosed with early dementia (but not challenging behaviour) She is receiving ongoing care for skin cancers. In addition to organised Care which she pays towards, she has considerable input from family. She was assessed, but in order to qualify for CHC she would have needed to have challenging behaviour and more nursing needs, and was turned down. I haven't the energy to fight it.

The situation is preposterous. No justification for dementia care not being as fully funded as, say, cancer care. If we ‘can’t have everything’ i would rather have properly funded care for the old than, e.g., Trident.

There is no clear divide between "social" and "nursing", surely they are co-dependant? My mum couldn't stay alive without being washed, fed, toiletted, medicated etc. She would only be suitable for a Nursing Home, not Care Home if she went into care.