Evening folks,

I’m just looking for some advice / experience on a rather difficult situation that my parents / grandparent are in…

I’ll try and summarise this to keep it brief.

So my grandad died about 6 years ago. My grandma moved in with my parents for 2 years before moving into a home.

My grandma moved to a home because my mum got ill and still is today. She’s not capable of caring from my grandma who has severe dementia.

The care fees were funded by my parents / grandmas pension.

My parents have run out of money so can no longer pay towards my grandmas care.

The council aren’t interested.

The care home have issued 4 weeks notice to evict my grandma.

Sending her back to my parents is not an option.

Anyone input on how this might pan out is appreciated. Thanks

As a matter of urgency you need to speak to the Adult Social Care Dept at your local Council. My experience has been that they are incredibly helpful and want to do the best for the elderly. You must give them the facts, are you able to phone them yourself?

I would also suggest getting financial paperwork in order as they will need to see it.

What CG said +1. You could also ask your grandmothers gp to make a referral. I am not totally familiar with the process. Good luck

Does grandma have any property or savings ? if not needs a social worker to assess her urgently as the council should pick up the funding to stop her being evicted, will also need a financial assessment as may be entitled to some benefits to help pay for her care.

You need to contact Adult Social Care soonest. If the home are going to evict your grandmother, where are they going to evict her to?
If she has ‘severe’ dementia (I sympathise as I’ve just lost my mum to the disease) is it possible via your Local Adult Social Care Office to try and get NHS Continuing Health Care, whereby the NHS pay all or a proportion of the costs.
It’s hard work to get such funding, you have to be determined, speak to a lot of people, fill in a lot of forms and be prepared for some gruelling interviews. But it is possible; after a considerable effort my sister and I succeeded in getting full funding by the NHS for mum.
Good luck, I know how you feel.

My grandmas home was sold when she moved in with my parents. The proceeds were used to repay my parents mortgage so my mum could quit work and care for her. 2 years later my mum became ill and my grandmas dementia developed hence moving into a home.

The council are claiming that there is a case of “deprivation of assets” and as a result they are refusing to help. The original intention was for my grandma to spend the last of her days living with my parents. She’s still going strong now albeit it with dementia. My parents are not physically fit enough to care for my grandma anymore so going back to their house isn’t an option.

Ask AGE CONCERN, and the care quality commission for help, also the local government ombudsman.

a sad time for you, but the council do have a duty of care to your relative, and must rehome her or pay her existing fees, nursing home as opposed to care home fees are paid by the NHS.

Have the Council put this in writing and, if so, to whom? Have you tried speaking to someone more senior? Alternatively get your local MP involved.

MORE INFO HERE

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Factsheets/FS40_deprivation_of_assets_in_the_means_test_for_care_home_provision_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true

Thanks all, it’s a terrible situation and we’re all at wits end. My parents are on the edge of having a breakdown.

To add a little more background – my parents shouldn’t have actually been made to pay anything towards her fees in the first place. Unfortunately an assessment at the time was carried out incorrectly and my parents have paid over £30k of their own money towards care costs over the years. They’ve paid a fortune in legal costs to solicitors recently who have proved the councils mistake and ultimately they owe my parents every penny back. The only way this can be enforced is through the courts at a significant cost to my parents which given the situation they can’t afford to.

The care home are very supportive and it seems they were trying to call the councils bluff by threatening an eviction but the council aren’t budging.

My parents worry like hell at the best of times and are struggling to cope. Reckon they’ll end up in prison etc etc.

Surely they can’t / won’t leave my 86 year old grandma homeless?!

have a look at my link above,

There’s a number of things that make this situation exempt from the deprivation of assets but the council refuse to reopen the case and will not allow further appeal to their decision. Only the courts can enforce that at significant costs.

My parents have a meeting with the home on Monday so I’m going with them. One of the difficult things is that my grandma knows nothing of this and she’s going to be at the meeting. I can’t see it doing her any favours and will only make the emotional side of things even more difficult

Give the elderly care support line guys a call at Bupa. They’ll give you some impartial advice and guidance.

Disclaimer: I work for Bupa, the care help line deals with both Bupa care and non Bupa care. They are a great team and can help.

BigSpud