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These ‘amenities charges’ could be an attempt by the NHS to effectively ‘cap’ CHC, which is quite wrong. It could also be an attempt by the care home to make up the shortfall between their self-funder rate and the CHC rate. They can only charge for services that are separate to any care needs.
It’s not about having to refuse if you are a spouse, it is about never being asked in the first instance. We have recently begun such a process with my mother in law. She has started to become unsteady due to pain in her legs. I prattle on without knowing him and his situation but perhaps he is capable enough to use a wheelchair.
Selling a House to Pay Care Home Fees
Because she has mental capacity they will not do FNC but surely it’s her well being and safety that should matter more. My 80 yr old mother is currently in a Specialist Dementia Ward in a Mental Health Unit under Section 3 of MHA up North . She will be discharged under a Section 117 aftercare programme. If we have to move mum to somewhere else it will be at great detriment to her health and well being as she has fitted in there very well and knows the staff and residents. Be sure to read the Independent Age links in the article, too.
Within the 4 weeks of care she had 3 falls and was admitted into hospital again. The report revealed that many care home top-up fees should not be charged at all. It also shows that in many casers local authorities should be meeting the full costs of care. • Councils should not set arbitrary ceilings on the amount they expect to pay for residential care.
What's a third party top-up fee?
Their behaviour in giving you four days also sounds unreasonable. You may find it useful to perhaps have a solicitor send a letter to the care home. My query concerns whether or not a local authority can force a top-up payment in law. Hi Joanne – if any of the points from the article apply to you, you may be able to challenge the request for top ups. Also, check out the link to ‘more recent’ findings’ at the end of the article. Plus, if you believe that the outcome of the previous Continuing Healthcare assessment process was incorrect, you may want to appeal this.
The assessment must consider what your care and support needs are and the impact of these needs on your physical and mental health, emotional and social wellbeing, and personal relationships, among other things. The care home my mother moved initially moved to tried to get my elderly father to agree to a ‘pledge for a charitable donation’ for when her money ran out. My father did agree to it but wrote a covering letter to say that it would only be if his circumstances remained the same. I was then told by the home and LA that my father had agreed to a top up. I said he never signed any such document and that he was led to believe it was a voluntary charitable donation only.
About Age UK
I have been looking at this “Continuing Healthcare” package and wondered as mum is registered blind, and seems to suffer fairly frequently leg ulcers , whether she would fit into this care package. Antony – if your wife has not been assessed for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding, this should happen as a matter of priority, before anyone tells you she has to pay for her care. If there isn’t another care home in the vicinity that’s right for an individual then the council will have to increase into payments.
Hi Andrea, When my mother went into a nursing home in February, my Father underwent an assessment. The house was not included because he was living there. Half of the joint bank account went into his name and half into mums.
Help if You Can No Longer Afford to Pay
The NHS will cover the cost of their care and support, including care fees. Top-up fees relate to local authority care/social care and do not apply to CHC funding. So, even though you can’t top up CHC, the NHS can’t simply dictate what care home a person has to be in if they receive CHC. I have known people receive full CHC funding in homes that cost over £1000 per week.
Karen – if your mum had no children, the care home would have to find a way to get your mum to hospital, so it sounds as though they’re just trying to get out of having to do it. NHS hospital transport is also often available, so you could approach the hospital directly about this. Has your mum been assessed for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding? If not, this should be done as a priority, before anyone talks further about top ups. Top up requests should come via the local authority, should be properly costed, and they should not be random requests by care homes for more money.
Social services at the hospital were useless and did not help with anything – no care package put into place so we had to find a care home for her. Her time is running out so we are waiting for social services to assess her, the care home will not budge on the price and have said if she stays it will be 950 pound a week and the family will have to top up the amount after funding. We really need some help and don’t know what to do next. The district council have been paying the fees since he returned from hospital.
But in the crowded South East of England average fees are much higher and in the London area £1,000 a week has become more common following the latest round of increases at the start of this month. While more people now qualify for funding, the amount individual PCTs will pay to nursing homes varies considerably. In the London area, for example, where care fees of £1,000 a week are common, the difference can be hundreds of pounds a week. Call us for your free consultation with one of our friendly UK care experts. If you need further support, our Care Concierge service is on hand to provide guidance on typical care costs, help you explore your funding and benefit options, or even negotiate care fees on your behalf.
However, a friend is in a similar situation and she was allowed to pay top-ups when her mother's savings fell to just a few thousand. If you have agreed to pay a top-up fee for someone else, you’ll be asked to sign a contract, preferably with the council who will then pay the care home. The local authority must be satisfied that you’re willing and able to pay the top-up fee for as long as it’s needed. If the care needs assessment recommends that care is needed, a further financial assessment will be arranged to see if the local authority will pay towards the care. If this is the case, the local authority will tell you how much they think your care home should cost . According to industry estimates, local councils offer on average to pay £512 a week for a care home place.
Local authorities are routinely demanding monthly payments to bridge the gap between what they are prepared to pay and the fees demanded by nursing homes, which can be as high as £1,000 a week. We are fighting for a number of clients who were wrongly told they must sign a “lifestyle agreement” as part of their care home contract. In many cases, this was after their Clinical Commissioning Group refused to pay sufficient NHS CHC funds to cover the cost of meeting their care needs.
It is also maladministration on the part of the Local Authority too. If you’ve decided that a care home or nursing home is the best option for your loved one, your next task will be understanding the various costs and complications involved in that decision. Though caring for elderly relatives is no doubt a privilege, it is often very stressful. Obviously you want your parent or grandparent to have the best quality of life possible and the best possible standard of care so that their every need is met, but you also have to be realistic about what they - or you - can afford. Becoming a member of the Guardian Social Care Network means you get sent weekly email updates on policy and best practice in the sector, as well as exclusive offers.
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