Urgent question re Cost of home visit carers

My son and daughter both got CHC, they did have significant health problems, they received the help they needed and it gave me a break. If I were you I would ask. Good luck and take care of yourself.

ChatGPT:
Bottom line: If the person has mental capacity, they can refuse or reduce homecare, even if professionals think that’s unsafe. The LA/social worker can recommend and strongly advise, but they cannot legally insist — unless the person lacks capacity or safeguarding laws are triggered.

Do you want me to show you what usually happens in practice if someone refuses the recommended care plan?

I got NHS CHC for my Mum for the last few months of her life. It was quite straightforward once I explained to her GP what it was as he said he knew nothing about it. I filled in the forms as much as I could for him - personal details - so all he had to do was read it and sign it.

As it’s early days, I’d suggest get the care in place that’s been advised, see how things go in say, a month and then look to reducing hours if circumstances allow.
Good care is expensive but so is everything else. Spend the money making life easier- can’t take it with you.

I think people who are at end of life care, get free care.
My dad had diabetes & Alzheimer’s but wasn’t classed as end of life, I personally think he should have been. Especially when he went down hill after receiving a fella in the next bed, blood transfusion by mistake- hospital negligence nearly killed him. He never spoke again 😔

SuzieHi

The NHS has a scheme called CHC continuing Health care - they will pick up care costs if Health based. Not means tested

The NHS does not fund people who do not need qualified nursing care though, so if assistance with dressing and personal care is the main requirement to enable somebody to live at home, the NHS would not be liable for the costs. Most people living at home only need the level of nursing care that can be provided by district nursing teams visiting, or if they have dementia, by community mental health services,

Attendance allowance £110.40 a week (higher rate).

Sago

He will be eligible for attendance allowance, his wife will get carers allowance.
This will go a long way towards care.

You don't get Carers allowance if you are over pension age, he will be eligible for either PIP ( under pension age) or Attendance Allowance if over.

CHC is hard to get - I managed to get it on appeal for my OH. It is essentially health service funding and relies on very detailed criteria. If he meets those then there is no cost at all. Check out beaconchc.co.uk/how-we-can-help/free-information-and-advice-on-nhs-continuing-healthcare/

You do not have to have the 4 visits a day if you do not feel this is necessary and he is paying for himself.

The NHS has a scheme called CHC continuing Health care - they will pick up care costs if Health based. Not means tested

A live-in carer (with 2 hours off a day) costs about this too if employed privately.
£1200 a week.
But twice this through an agency as they do all the DBS and training and insurance checks etc.

I am unable to add to this thread but I am shocked by what I am reading.
My parents never lived long enough to need care of this level so I have been ignorant of how this system works and the costs.

It seems so wrong to me that a person clearly in need of help has to watch their savings disappear at an alarming rate. Is there a level where that person can claim for free care? Surely they don't leave them with nothing.
This is an eye-opener to me and I sincerely hope Newdawn and others in her position find a solution.

So £1200 is likely I think.

4 a day is usual but they aren't for an hour usually.

45 minutes to get up/go to bed and two visits in between for "toileting" if needs are quite heavy.
The in between visits are usually 30 minutes I think.

In my area (not London), care like this is £37 (one agency) or £28 (another agency) per person per hour.
If he needs two people it is obviously double.

He will be eligible for attendance allowance, his wife will get carers allowance.
This will go a long way towards care.

Mt61.. i am shocked at the cost of home carers. Hopefully her husband will need less than four visits per day if he makes some improvement in his mobility.

We found that to be the case. Cheaper in a care home. That’s what we found.

I will tell her about the care to be different site thanks

Might be worth looking at Care To Be Different website.

I will suggest she queries whether any visits can be half hour.

Might not need full hour visits though? ...around here you can have a 30 min visit....if its for giving meds etc ....any more than 30 mins eg 45 ....then you pay for a full hour

Thanks for the reply. Not terminal and we are greater london. So at twenty five per hour thats fourteen hundred per week..thats even worse and we are greater london so possibly more than north west. Eye watering costs.

If your friends illness is life- limiting see if your local hospitals have a Hospice at home service, which I was able to access when my husband was very sick. They came to our home and gave all the care needed and access to Marie Curie nurses who came to relieve me at night so I could get some rest. It was all free and made his last weeks easier for him as he wasn’t worrying about me all the time.

Ps I'm north west

You would be looking at around 25 an hour per carer ( obviously they don't earn that...but thats what agency charge) ...so that would be £50 an hour for 2 .....so do the maths really....it would be 28 visits a week so that 56 carer visits ....not sure how long a visit would be? ...its not cheap....once the money in bank runs done then local authority will pay