Carers Advice

Hi Laura, yes its a minefield.

First, are you connected with a hospice as they may offer night care, although for me it was respite for me so it wasn't every night.

If that's not possible, do ring round, again the hospice social worker acted as the broker for me so that I didn't have to. 

There are 2 types of night care, waking and sleeping. Sleeping is cheaper but it may not be enough for your mum just to have someone in the house. They will require a bed and will sleep there and attend if needed eg to the loo.

A waking carer will sit with you mum, awake. We had a few of these. 

There are likely to be regional variations. Is your mum getting attendance allowance ( she should be if she's of pension age),  and any other benefits she may be entitled to.

I did look at an independent agency where all the carers are self employed but I can't recall the name. That can of course be double edged as they are entering your mums home with noone else there so safety, vetting etc must be thorough. 

Depending on her health, she may be entitled to CHC funding, there is a fast tracked version but she would have to be towards end of life, has this been mentioned at all? 

Finally has she had a care needs assessment, I would think yes if she's been discharged from hospital? Could they signpost at all?

I know its awful when we have to think about these things, and yes it could use a lot of her savings, you may have no choice ultimately but to find a care home. Noone wants it but sometimes it has to be.

Hugs to you x

Hi Laura

First - thanks for your kind response to my post a couple of days back. 

I ended up living with Mum for most of the time but, when I organised the care package for her (though not night cover), it was through my County Council's Adult Social Care Service. They sent a social worker round to assess her and then they acted as a broker to find a suitable care company for her. (Only one company pitched for the work in the end because she lived in a rural area). They did tell me that, as Mum's condition deteriorated, they would be able to provide overnight care and I think the price was going to be about £200 per night. 

When she was in hospital towards the end, I researched nursing homes because I was worried I couldn't provide the right standard of care for her myself when she returned home. I checked out the CQC reports on several homes in the area, got word-of-mouth reports and went to visit some without an appointment to see what they were really like. The one I chose (but never used, as it turned out) was going to be about £8k a month and I was initially in a terrible panic about how such an eye-watering sum would be paid. I ended up ringing the Macmillan helpline about the financial side of things, who were very helpful. Do try them. By this time, Mum had accepted that she needed round-the-clock nursing care so I was quite fortunate that she had resigned herself to the idea. 

As Malengwa says, however, there is also CHC funding to look into in cases where a patient is nearing end of life. The hospital doctor said she would put in a fast track application for that in Mum's case. The fact that I'd already found a nursing home bed for her was a big advantage too - they said it saved the hospital a lot of time and effort finding a suitable place themselves. There is an organisation called Beacon who can help with advice on CHC funding - https://beaconchc.co.uk

Good luck getting through the minefield. It's horrible to have to be so practical minded when there's so much emotional turmoil going on! 

Hi Laura, 

there is a go compare internet page. Look in Google for ‘compare care agencies’. I did this and got inundated with emails and phone calls from local care agencies. 
the whole of the social care system is so complicated. If you mum has not been given a prognosis and if she had for longer than a few months, your mum has  to be assessed by adult social care services (social services) to if she qualifies for financial assistance to pay for care. It is called a financial assessment. If she has ready access to more than £2325, she will have to pay for care once the Enablement Care from hospital ends phone the MacMillan helpline for guidance.