Residential care

That is awful. Moving a person from home to home for no reason other than cost. I am sure care legislation decrees a person has a choice of where they want to go for care. What seems to be going on is that "bed blockers" are moved out of hospital to a care setting that may not be their choice, pending a vacancy in the Home that is their choice. Of course a vacancy never occurs as others keep being discharged taking up any vacancy available. I would suggest you contact any organisation you feel will know the legislation, suggestions of CAB, Age UK, are worthwhile following up. People should not be passed from pillar to post, your DM has a choice of where she lives.

This sort of thing might have happened to my father who had vascular dementia. The council kept trying to palm us off with totally unsuitable placements, no dementia care, poor dementia care, too far away for regular visits etc. We got input from his GP, his medical social worker and any one we could who might help. Eventually he was confirmed a permanent place in a top quality care home with the specialist provision he needed, where he stayed until he passed away. We inspected each home offered and kept turning them down. Hard work but worth it. You don’t have to meekly give in to the powers that be as they are only thinking of the financial aspect whereas your mother deserves a caring and STABLE environment for her to have a decent quality of life.

I manage a social work team (not in Dorset). It is standard practice to do an initial best value search but we do not repeat them; once a home is identified that is it unless serious concerns arise with the home forcing its closure or termination of contract with the LA
I would also say that - in the case of the LA I work for at least - best value doesn't just equal cheapest. We also take into account the person and their needs, eg proximity to family, whether the home can meet their cultural needs, behaviour needs (as an example we recently rejected a home which offered the cheapest placement on the basis of a recent CQC report which rated it as requiring improvement for staffing levels. This person needed a high degree of supervision and it was my view - and senior managers agreed with me - that the home would not be able to offer the levels of supervision needed to keep the person safe).
Glad things worked out for your Mum in the end but you should never have had to go through that

This has worried me Tansy600 as I live in Dorset too.

I hope your mum is allowed to stay where she is

dragonfly46

This is shocking. The cheapest homes are not always the best.

The most expensive ones are not necessarily the best, either! We looked at so many for both FiL and my mother, and often felt that ‘smart’ decor was there largely to impress relatives who were choosing. In some you could honestly almost hear the cash registers ringing.
Whereas cosy and homely was IMO much more important.

The very worst I encountered was the ostensibly very plush, expensive one, where an aunt of dh put herself for a month while her general helper was away.

Seafront, very plush, expensive looking decor, but the staff were all surly and miserable, and as a visitor I was always made to feel like a very unwelcome nuisance.
The aunt hated it and couldn’t wait to get home.

The difference between that and the medium priced CH where my mother ended up could not have been more vast. That was a dementia only CH, so not quite the same, but even so….

This treatment of our wonderful older people is becoming more regular nowadays. It’s because care homes are so expensive to run and they can’t get staff; Brexit, zero hour contracts and low pay all contributing factors. Just remember Boris Johnson stood out No. 10 and vowed to sort out the care system. The Government have know about this for years and have not helped in any way. The General Election might be a time to vote a new Government who care.

If you pay for it you chose, if not , you go to the one that social services deem as fit for purpose for their needs . I could be wrong but you can offer to pay the difference.
I'm probably going to get flamed here but it does jar a little with me at the thought that in some cases , people that had a mortgage and scrimped to afford to live could be paying thousands a month , sat next to others who lived for the moment and spent every pound they had and getting it all for nothing.
I realise every case is different , but not always fair.

You are lucky that she has funding - many don't. i had to fight for it for years despite the fact my mother was basically a vegetable the UK has to wake up to the fact that the demand for funding is greater than the amount of money. Hence the fact that many local authorities are going bust. The criteria that is set for determining funding is so out of date and so strict it is ridiculous.