Nursing home fees

Exactly my point, Flickety.
When my parents were in the same care home, it was noticed that there was nobody available during the night to look after the five diabetics.
If someone had a hypo, a doctor had to be phoned for. A district nurse had to come round every evening to check blood sugar levels and give injections before the evening meal.
Because of the increasing prevalence of diabetes in old age, I think there should always be a trained nurse in every care home, not just in nursing homes as it is now, I believe.
This will cost more.
And if talking is good medication, there should be people to talk to all the time.
My mother was a nurse. When she was in her final nursing home, five minutes walk from my sister's house, the nurses used to go into her room if she was awake and talk to her about what nursing was like in the old days. They always knew if she was awake as she had a tracheotomy tube and used to cough a lot. It wasn't so good for the nurse who was talking to her at 5 a.m., then went back at 7 and found her dead, but at least she knew my mother was happy before she died in her sleep.
We need good staffing, not just the minimum.

They are doing precisely that. In fact I often admire how patient and chatty they are with some of the residents, who can be very difficult to communicate with and have behaviour that is not easy to work with.

A well managed home.

As long as those staff are chatting to the residents and not discussing hair, make-up, missed periods and the like amongst themselves!

Whenever I visit my aunt's care home I always notice how many staff there are about all the time. The main sitting area is in open area the centre of the home and people and staff are always passing through and chatting and the sheer number of staff is always noticeable. Oncewhen I was there, there was a fire alarm practice and I was amazed how many staff reported to the rallying point.

Not all the staff are on the minimum wage as some are nurses, trained activity therapists or have other professional qualifications.

durhamjen I see where you are coming from re fees and cost generally. I was working on the assumption that I will not need 24/7 care but maybe 2 hours in the morning and again in the evening. I know that my head is in the clouds!

If I have a cardiac arrest in the street, I just hope that there is not an enthusiastic First Aider around. Maybe I should have "do not resuscitate" tattooed on my forehead and then everybody wil be clear.

When looked at from the home's point of view, one careworker on a wage of £7 per hour for 24/7 care is £1176.
That's without any overheads such as food and heating, etc. or NI for the carer.
£7 is going to be the minimum wage next year, but do you want to be looked after by minimum wage.
Anyone who has to be moved in the nursing context, even to go to the toilet or to be put in a bath, needs two people.
When we see people in carehomes or hospitals needing help to eat or go to the toilet, we get angry because there are not enough members of staff to help, yet on the other hand we complain about the cost of staffing these places.
It's a dilemma, isn't it?

I have had three relations go into care over the last 10 years and all were in homes where the care was good. One was not mentally impaired, other than being unable to cope alone at home because of depression and not taking medications. He did report one member of staff who he saw treating another resident roughly, she was suspended then sacked. there were no repercussions. The fees were at the lower end of the range, but it was an area with high unemployment.

I still have an aunt in care. She has vascular dementia. When she moved into the home about 5 years ago she was paying about £700 a week. How much it is now I do not know as I do not handle her financial affairs.

We bought our current home for our retirement when we were in our early 50s. It is large rambling with a large garden. 20 years later we are still having no difficulty running it. However we always accepted that at some time we will need to move to something more practical. We have also decided that if either of us is diagnosed with dementia we will move into one of those care villages with bungalows and flats where you can buy in car when you need it and there is a care home on site, so if one person needs care everything is linked together.

Nobody fancy Thailand then?

The LA don't in general run homes now, but they do pay for you to be in a private one. Once your capital runs out you have to contribute any pensions/benefits that you have with n amount allowed for personal pocket money.

Organisations like Age Concern have advice on their websites.

The cruise option has a certain appeal though!

My plan is to manage here till I drop off my perch - but "The best laid plans ...." and all that!

Granny23, certainly in England, there are few, and getting fewer, Local Authority Care Homes.

My Mum (aka Mrs Bucket) was persuaded to go into a care home by the swanky look of the place. My brothers were taken in too but DH who visits CH on a regular basis was sceptical. He was right!

Mum is now in a BUPA Dementia Care Home which is wonderful. She had been paying the total amount [minus nursing] until her money got below the level where LA funding kicks in. Now, she pays a small contribution from her remaining money and her pensions and my brother pays a 'top-up' of £35 per week.

The best home where we last lived in Wales was a local authority one - people lovely etc and most of the residents were from the area. My friend did a lot of research for her mother and said this was by the far the best and friendliest - as it happened her mother passed away before she was able to leave the hospital.

Thank goodness for your timely post Mishap. I was beginning to panic after doing sums which showed that with the house sold + our miniscule pensions, DH and I could only afford a year each in one of these care homes. So I guess it is a Local Authority Home for us - or - alternatively, blow the lot on a world cruise and accidently fall overboard when nearly back home

There is of course an entitlement to funding from the local authority or the NHS. The former is based in income and savings, the latter on medical/nursing need (regardless of assets/income). So the concern about how many years the value of one's house will last is not one that should cause too much concern. There is only a problem if the money runs out and you are in a home whose fees are more than the LA is willing to pay.

But this begs the question as to the quality of the home, which is the most important consideration.

Those of us Gransnetters who have been involved in organising care for elderly parents will know only too well how variable that quality is; and the systems for monitoring care quality are lamentable.

Care at home can be just as problematical. A live-in carer sounds a wonderful idea, but finding the right person is a minefield. The agencies who provide these are again of variable quality and their monitoring procedures leave a lot to be desired. And it is often more difficult than we think to adapt to a stranger in your home. Organising their time off entitlement is also a challenge.

Having said that, if you strike lucky, a care home can be an excellent option, with company, care and a shedding of responsibilities. But finding that gem is very difficult indeed and demands single-mindedness, bloody-mindedness and determination; qualities in short supply when you a facing a loss of independence and are disabled and/or vulnerable.

We found an excellent care home for my parents (they were there at different times) which truly did what it said on the tin, and cared. It was not the poshest or tidiest of homes, but it was filled with love and a genuine concern for the well-being of the residents. Finding it was a long hard depressing slog. We kissed a lot of very smelly frogs along that way.

Here is an article of a third world country offering nursing home care to Westerners.
TBH if one had dementia this sounds like it has some plus points. Lack of NHS nearby - but would one want to be kept going for an extra 5 or 10 years really. Rather be looked after properly for a short amount of time once you get past the point where you recognise the family.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25438325

I'm moving to France !

Forgot to say there is an Alzheimer's wing in this home too and a wing which is semi secure.

I heard this week from a friend about the high cost of nursing homes in UK. Here in France there is a beautiful new home within about six miles of us - it has nice single rooms and none are pokey - all with e suite facilities. They residents have a simple breakfast in their rooms and lunch and dinner are served in a dining room which is much more like a restaurant. They have for lunch soup, a starter, main course, cheese and a sweet and wine if they like and of course finished off with coffee. Dinner is a slightly smaller three course meal. They are set meals but very varied.
The staff are all very pleasant and helpful and in the main local people- the chef ran a bar restaurant in the village for years.The local doctors and nurses plus the physios visit several times a week and there is a hair salon and the local hairdresser spends Thursdays there. The cost of this is €500 per week.
We have friends staying there at the moment as he needs to convalesce and she is unable to manage on her own at home. The standards are very high and activities take place in the communal sitting room. There is also a pathway around a garden so residents can go out and be fine in wheelchairs or with a Zimmer frames etc.
This home is run by a UK company!

My ex is now in a BUPA nursing home in Cheshire.Quite high fees. DD lives nearby visits most days and has had to be quite assertive to get his needs met (she is an experienced nurse-trained at Charing X hospital
P.S They won't take patients with dementia !!

I've heard good reports of Homeshare UK. worth investigating if you have a spare room.

Having seen the treatment of people in this home I stayed in who had dementia I think I'll join Aka

We were talking about our house just this morning from this point of view. Neither of us can imagine a time when we would want to leave here as we have it just the way that suits us for the way we live now and with enough spare bedrooms and bathrooms that our children and their children can come and stay.

But, although we have two staircases, neither are particularly user friendly nor, I imagine, easy to fit a stair lift to, and both landings then have a series of small steps.

When DS1 had a stroke we had his bathroom made suitable for him but that entailed hiving off a chunk of a large double bedroom to make an accessible bathroom and a small double room. We have small gardens front and back and no grass to cut but the front drive is quite steep.

We are both hale and hearty at the moment so at this point we stuck our heads back in the sand and went out for breakfast!

Never thought you were at that stage Charleygirl far from it I'd imagine x

I am inclined to agree Aka but I am not there yet. I want to make life as comfortable for me as possible now.

When I get to the stage I cannot see to my own 'personal needs' I'll take a cocktail of whatever meds washed down with a stiff single malt.

I am fortunate to have a modern house with a straight staircase so I have a stairlift. Also recently I have had my front path, luckily a small one, raised so that I no longer need a mountain pole to help me get in the front doorstep.

My bath has gone and I have a walk in shower. When I replaced the loos 2-3 years ago I bought taller ones so no problem getting on and off. Slowly I am replacing bulbs with long life ones so that I do not have to negotiate a mini step ladder to change one.

To afford to pay £1000 a week I would have to sell my house and the money would not last that long so I am trying to sort out my house as a more cost effective option. My eyesight is not 100% which is another major problem but there is a way around most things.

The S.O.'s mum who has had a knee replacement recently and has an ulcerated leg has carers coming in twice a day and it costs about £170 a week. They stay for 3/4 hour each visit and were recommended by Age Concern. With a cleaner as well she's coping very well at home [although lives pretty much downstairs these days]. Maybe just having a big think about adapting your house more could work Galen? I sometimes think that living in a house we really love can be a poisoned chalice eventually; perhaps better to live somewhere horrid and then be happy to move on to somewhere more suitable. My son has the same problem with the little house he renovated; can't bear the thought of not living there although it wouldn't be cost effective to extend it.