What should Continuing Healthcare funding cover?
If you qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare, watch out for these 3 myths:
…You’ve been through the NHS Continuing Healthcare assessment process.
…You’ve battled every step of the way.
…And now you’ve finally succeeded in securing the funding.
But what should Continuing Healthcare funding cover?
Here are 3 things you may be wrongly told at this point:
1. The local authority will still have to means test you for your social care needs.
2. Continuing Healthcare will only pay up to a certain amount for your healthcare needs.
3. Your family will have to pay the difference fees between what the NHS will pay and what the care provider charges.
If you’ve been told any of these things, challenge them right away. Here’s why…
Let’s look at the NHS Continuing Healthcare guidelines – the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care:
Page 14, paragraph 33:
“Where a person has been assessed to have a ‘primary health need’, they are eligible for NHS continuing healthcare. Deciding whether this is the case involves looking at the totality of the relevant needs. Where an individual has a primary health need and is therefore eligible for NHS continuing healthcare, the NHS is responsible for providing ALL of that individual’s assessed health AND social care needs – including accommodation, if that is part of the overall need.”
So, if you qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare, the NHS must cover ALL your needs, whether they are social care needs or healthcare needs. It’s the whole package.
Let’s look further at the National Framework:
Page 46, paragraph 167:
“Where a person qualifies for NHS continuing healthcare, the package to be provided is that which the CCG assesses is appropriate to meet ALL of the individual’s assessed health AND associated social care needs.”
In other words, ALL the needs that have been discussed and assessed to get you to the point of qualifying for NHS Continuing Healthcare should be covered by the funding.
So be alert for anyone trying to tell you that Continuing Healthcare is capped, or that you still have to pay some of the fees. Indeed, if you qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding, the responsibility for your care is squarely on the shoulders of the NHS.
What’s more, the local authority will be in an illegal position if it then tries to means test you. This is also reinforced in the new Care Act and in case law, for example the well known Coughlan case.
Remember also that ‘top up’ fees apply to local authority care ONLY, not NHS Continuing Healthcare.
How the Care Act helps you with NHS Continuing Healthcare
The vital question to ask the social worker
What’s your experience?
Please could you provide some clarity around the provision of respite care. My father was granted CHC funding. He is cared for at home by my step mother and 2 carers visit 4 times a day. CHC are trying to restrict the provision of respite carers / nursing care so that my step mother can take a holiday and have a break for a few hours every week.
They are trying to push her down the route of managing the budget for respite care herself.
Any help / guidance that I could refer to in my meetings with CHC team would be appreciated.
My mother had been self-funding in a nursing home for eight years at a cost of more than £1000 a week. Her care has cost nearly £350,000. We sold everything she had to afford it. We had finally been awarded CHC funding just a month or so before she died in January. I have now won a fight to get the funding backdated for a year. Is the NHS allowed to just pay it’s tariff (which might be half of what mum had actually paid) which would leave us in effect topping up her fees, or do they legally have to pay the entire amount that she had paid over that time? I’d be grateful for advice – the process has worn me out and I have all but lost the energy to fight again!
My 95 year old mum, late stage dementia, immobile, had a Checklist done 12 months ago and Decision Support Tool (DST) 6 months ago, they said she didn’t qualify, but she is eligible for £112 per week Funded Nursing Care (FNC) contribution towards her nursing care if she required respite in a nursing home.
She had another Checklist done 10 weeks ago but still awaiting DST date.
Does anyone feel this sounds right????
Mary
I have just been told my mother only qualifies for a joint funded package with NHS providing nursing care only and mum paying the rest. She has Alzheimer, severe dementia and a heart condition does your article mean she should qualify for full funding?
Grandparents both have dementia and medical conditions that require daily tablets taken throughout the day. The cannot care for themselves generally, they have had an NHS assessment and have been put on a emergency carer system. At the moment a carer comes in twice a day and makes sure they are medically ok, however we have been told this has to stop. Grandparents refuse to pay for care, or move into a care home but would probably go through another assessment. They at least need the daily carer to continue is there a way this can be funded? Thanks.
My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Dementia in 2011. She has been in residential care since November 2013 and was awarded CHC in June 2015. She now also has 1:1 care primarily because she is likely to fall and injure herself.
When CHC was awarded I was warned by the home that there was a CHC cap of £720 and that I would have to make up the shortfall which is I now £330/week. I queried this with the NHS who were incredibly evasive and arguably dishonest in their replies (I can prove that).
I gave in and paid the shortfall (well mother does). Why?
1. As an only child I have had to battle ( and I mean battle) to ensure that mum has had the best possible care (which by and large she does). I am still fighting the useless Adult Care department of the local council over an incident that occurred nearly three years ago!! I am tired and decided after seven years this was one battle too far.
2. I questioned the morality of receiving the whole sum paid by NHS. The shortfall is just covered by mum’s pensions. If NHS paid the whole amount then mum’s pension would be going straight into my pocket. Some would say I deserve it but I’m not sure that is the point. Perhaps that emphasises my tired mind!
Hi Mary, unfortunately the Decision Support Tool (DST) can take a long time to happen I’ve been told up to two years, although it should be done within 28 days! It’s very frustrating! You can appeal the decision following a DST. I would advise to take ‘evidence’ to the DST such as records from the care agency, letter from her GP and any other professionals involved, and make notes of anything significant to take with you. Good luck!
I fought an eighteen month battle to get CHC for my elderly disabled father, beginning while he was still in hospital. By the time we were successful, he had been in his nursing home for a year and three months, fully self funding. The ‘award’ of CHC when we got it was backdated a year. I had assumed that all his fees would then be covered, but this was not the case. I was told that the NHS would only fund him to a maximum amount, which was considerably less than his nursing home room actually cost. So he ended up ‘topping up’ himself: paying about a third of the required amount while the NHS paid around two thirds. I did query this at the time, but decided to go along with it because (a) I definitely didn’t want him moved to somewhere cheaper, as he was nicely settled and receiving good care; (b) I felt that requiring him to pay for his board and food etc, as opposed to his nursing care, was not unfair, and (c) he was more or less able to pay his share of the bill with his income, rather than his capital – and after all, if he had still lived at home, he would still have had to pay his way. So, on balance, I think the arrangement we ended up with was quite fair and reasonable. What was awful, and still appals me to this day (three years on) is the almost unbelievable obstacle course you are subjected to in order to get CHC funding at all. My Dad passed away at Christmas. I’m extremely glad he ended his days well care for, but the overall picture for so-called ‘social care’ in this country is looking ever more grim – especially for those without means.
I am awaiting an appeal meeting for a Decision Support Tool (DST) that took place last year and a new DST is being submitted this week as my mum’s health needs have increased AGAIN!
However, the social worker did say if my mum doesn’t qualify for Continuing Healthcare this time they may negotiate a package with Health but would this be illegal as we believe my mum’s needs are beyond the remit of LA responsibilities?
The social worker has also hinted my mum is in an expensive nursing home above their limit and so could be moved.
She is 90 years old with late stage of Alzheimer’s and immobile, I mean really?
My mother-in-law has been in a care home for 2 years and is settled. The home costs are steadily rising ( even faster with the new living wage ) and we now top up £800 a month. The CHC team say they have a limit of £1000 a week above which they will not go, if we wish for full funding they will have to move her to a cheaper home. Obviously we cannot move her when she is settled and we fear ‘rocking the boat’ , in effect they impose a funding cap by placing the responsibility on the relatives.
Some questions:
My wife who has advanced dementia may be awarded CHC funding in the near future. She is very well cared for in a care home.
Can the health authority move her to another place of care as part of the agreement to fund her?
If at some point the care home do not have the resources to look after her as her needs have further increased, but say they can provide appropriate care in a better resourced accommodation which is still part of the care organisation – which is however outside the boundary of the current Clinical Commissioning Group – can they withdraw funding? They would be paying the same health care provider however. Would she require a further Needs Assessment by another CCG? (God forbid!)
Laurence
Advice please…
My mother with dementia and other illnesses has been awarded Continuing Healthcare (CHC) funding for care at home. Her needs are increasing and it has been decided she should be moved to a nursing home. So much misinformation on so many fronts…
Current confusion:
(1) one home tells Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) (who does not know about CHC funding) that they only take up to a certain number of CHC funded residents, because their fees are £1250 and CHC only funds to £850 so there would be shortfall of £400 pw but they could do a deal with topping up of £330 pw…
[as an aside – curious as to where these capped numbers come from given the wide variations in posts above]
(2) CHC funding review meeting coincidentally due…
(3) it’s the CPN who’s met Mum once recently (authoritative, disinterested, ill-informed) plus the original nurse assessor from the multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting, who met Mum once last year who will be conducting the CHC funding review.
So…
(a) I assume we need CHC review before she’s moved?
(b) If there’s a choice of 2 nursing homes and one costs £1162 pw and other is £1250 pw (tho they might ‘do a deal’ of £1180), then I assume that the less expensive option is the one she has to go to??
(c) What else do I need to consider…
Interesting experience for me this a.m. I went to look at a care home perhaps more appropriate to my wife’s increasing needs. I was asked about funding and I informed them that she was currently self funding but likely to be awarded NHS funding after an assessment in May. I was told that as this was not a nursing home (but a dementia unit) the NHS would not pay the full amount as they did not employ nurses, i.e. the CCG caps the funding even though folk have been awarded CHC funding. I said that I did not believe this to be the case and they said, ‘That’s how it works.’ Its never ending!!!
Could I please ask the following?
I am in receipt of generous Continuing Healthcare (CHC) funding (a rarity, I understand!), paid by Direct Payments, with which I employ nursing/care assistants to help me care for my profoundly and multiply handicapped daughter in the family home on a 24x7x52 basis. Prior to that we had Direct Payments from the Independent Living Fund which meant that I was accustomed to their strict rules about the use of the payments. We have not been visited since December 2014 when the award commenced and have no real point of contact with the CCG, although that suits me very well! However, I would like to use some of the funding to purchase a few items for my daughter’s benefit e.g. a mattress of better pressure relieving properties, incontinence sheets that are not provided, some physio cushions for supportive positioning and better seating etc. All items solely for my daughter’s well-being, of course.
Can you point me to any literature that might define exactly what this funding may be used for?
Thank you,
My Dad, who has got vascular dementia, has had Continuing Healthcare funding since December 2015 and has one to one 24 hour care in a challenging behaviour unit. Over the last couple of days he has been admitted to hospital with pneumonia and although he is getting better he is trying to climb out of bed, striking and hitting out at staff and walking unaided at times. His mobility is poor and in the home he walks around for a large part of the day supported by a one to one carer. His co-ordination will not allow him to use a walking aid of any kind. I’m worried he will fall and suffer a break or skin tear as his skin is tissue paper thin. If he has the funding in place and has been assessed at needing one to one 24 hour care, shouldn’t he be able to get the same level of care while he is in a NHS hospital? Your online book and website, by the way, is an amazing resource and helped me securing the funding. Couldn’t have done it without that help, thank you.
Can you tell me what ‘Continuing Care Funding Category 2 (shared care) means?
Hi
If I find a care home that can meet my Mum’s assessed needs can CHC state they will only pay a set amount towards the weekly costs e.g. I have been quoted £570.00 is the maximum the NHS will pay. If the costs of the care home are not agreeable to the NHS can they ask me to find a home within the maximum amount they will pay?
Thanks
Can anyone help. I am from Northern Ireland and my husband is currently sectioned in an elderly dementia unit in hospital. I have been told that he is moving to a trust bed in a private nursing home. This home deals with “challenging” behaviour and according to the manager my husband will be there for between 4 weeks and 4 months. Because this is a temporary move should I pay? The social worker involved says I must pay the amount other nursing homes charge, but, because they are instigating this move that they i.e. the trust will pay and additional costs. My understanding is that if the move is temporary the trust should pay.
I don’t know… but it would seem that your husband is very unwell, indicating a ‘health’ rather than a ‘social’ need. I suspect the social worker is ill-informed. I suspect the ‘temporary’ nature of the move is irrelevant. I think a CHC funding application needs to be the first step, before the hospital discharges him. I would put that request in writing to all concerned. I am so sorry you are having to go through this at such a difficult time. Good luck.
Hi there, how would I go about making an application for Continuing Healthcare (CHC) funding for my elderly disabled 77 year old Mum? She has just recently come out of hospital following a 6 week emergency admission for a severe UTI, Sepsis, a severe bowel obstruction requiring emergency surgery & a 7 night stay in ICU. Whilst on the surgical ward recovering she was diagnosed as now being in congestive heart failure. She has been discharged home to her sheltered housing with a care package in place of 30 mins am, 20 mins pm, 20 mins eve – funded by the Adult Social Care team following an Adult Social Care Assessment & Personal Care Plan. She has not recovered her previous level of cognitive functioning and is muddled at times (there is a body of research around continuing ICU delerium / psychosis in the elderly) and she has become much more frail and unsteady on her feet. She is experiencing shortness of breath and has just had her second episode of oedema/pooling/open wounds on her legs, which have now healed with district nurse visiting twice a week to apply sepcial dressings. She isn’t able to get out, is mobilising a little in her bungalow with a walking frame, is too unsteady to use a wheeler-walker. Is unable to do her own laundry or cook meals or manage personal care. I am ordering in food in for her for the freezer which she is able to manage with the microwave. I have just completed an application for Extra Care / Assisted Living for a lovely place just 10 minutes drive from me (but Mum is in a completely different area) as I need her close to me now. She too wants to be close to me. It has been indicated that Mum has 1-2years life expectancy because of the severity of her heart condition. I think she now meets the criteria for CHC as opposed to Adult Social Care and I am wondering how to go about applying for this. Her GP has suggested that we go with the Care Act’s ‘Continuity of Care when moving between local authority (LA) areas’ so that we can get Mum near me asap & then look at CHC funding once she is here, because if we apply for CHC funding now this will slow everything up as it could take months… & we honestly donlt know how long she has got. I personally think this is going to be her last Christmas and I am desperate to get here before Christmas. But, for the future, perhaps January time, how would I go about making an application for CHC funding for Mum? Thanks ever so much. Helen
Wonder if anyone else has had experience of asking for specialist therapy costs in a Continuing Healthcare (CHC) package. We would be grateful for any advice. My sister in law, aged 70, has suffered multiple strokes and is in hospital. We have got CHC for her and the Brokerage team are looking for a nursing home and going to pay full costs. Although she is severely disabled she is receiving stroke specialist physiotherapy and speech and language therapy at the hospital, and making small improvements. She is not strong enough for the intensive stroke pathway rehabilitation at the step down hospital facility or from the local Early Supported Discharge Team. We are concerned that there is no community facility for slow stream specialist stroke rehabilitation in her area, and that the CCG want her to go into the generic Community Therapy programme when she is in a nursing home. We feel that specialised therapy is necessary for her to maximise her potential. How do we ask for the CCG to include the cost of slow stream specialist rehabilitation in the package? Are we likely to get this? What sort of evidence will we have to get to prove the case? Thanks
Hi All
My mum has just been granted CHC. We have had a verbal confirmation and have arranged to meet with the nurse to establish mums care needs. She is disabled and bed or chair ridden. Living in her own bungalow which is currently being converted with a grant to assist her disability. She has 4 double handed carer visits a day of an hour. There is a 6 hr gap between her last two visits which is now impacting on her health. Whilst she is not incontinent she is reliant on pads as she cannot use the toilet without assistance. She has sores and they are at risk of infection due to their location. As she has to pay a contribution due to social service means test she is reluctant to increase her carer visits due to costs.
I am of the opinion that mum needs either an increase in visits or a carer with her throughout the day.
My questions are ….
Does the NHS cap CHC funding…
Who determines mums maximum care dependency ( she cannot feed drink, wash toilet etc herself due to her condition which is spinal compression at the the base of her brain stem.)
Can the family have any influence on increasing her level of care. She is happy to keep her currant carers who can provide a higher level of care. A change in immediate family circumstance means a reduction in the care that they are able to do in between the carer visits….
Could she be forced into a care home/ nursing home if it is deemed more cost effective.
Will the family be expected to run her care fund. A family member runs her direct payment plan at the moment with the local authority.
Mum has paid out for some expensive equipment to help her in the home. Can this be claimed back against her CHC funding.
Mums condition will never improve. It will deteriorate over time. With this in mind will she now receive CHC for life or is it regularly reviewed.
Kind Regards
Paul
This is all such a minefield. Why are politicians not taking up the challenge on our behalf. I spoke to my mp ten weeks ago and am still waiting on an answer. The forgotten society. No one carers only the carers.
Hi Paul
my understanding may be wrong, but:
1) Does the NHS cap CHC funding… no, it is to meet all her health needs, but you may be erroneously told otherwise
2) Who determines mums maximum care dependency ( she cannot feed drink, wash toilet etc herself due to her condition which is spinal compression at the the base of her brain stem.)… there is no maximum. all her health needs must be covered. these will change over time. the family will know best what is needed. the family is likely to need to inform and co-ordinate others in what is needed.
3) Can the family have any influence on increasing her level of care… see (2) above. She is happy to keep her currant carers who can provide a higher level of care… good. A change in immediate family circumstance means a reduction in the care that they are able to do in between the carer visits… again, all her care needs must be met – therefore more care needs to be provided by CHC funding
4) Could she be forced into a care home/ nursing home if it is deemed more cost effective… ‘costing less’ is not the same as ‘cost effective’. again, it depends on what her care needs are, what the goals of her care are, etc. ‘efficacy’ and ‘psychological well being’ etc matter.
5) Will the family be expected to run her care fund. A family member runs her direct payment plan at the moment with the local authority… the CHC people for my relative insisted on a PHB (Personal Health Budget), with a ‘care broker agency’ managing the funds, ie paying carers’ invoices etc, this ‘service’ is paid for from the PHB budget. the PHB budget needs to be negotiated firmly – again, it must meet all her care needs
6) Mum has paid out for some expensive equipment to help her in the home. Can this be claimed back against her CHC funding… it depends on when the CHC funding is deemed to be starting from
7) Mums condition will never improve. It will deteriorate over time. With this in mind will she now receive CHC for life or is it regularly reviewed… it gets reviewed in about 3 or 6 months time (?) and thereafter annually
Good luck!
I need some help about something. My mum has an incurable long-term health condition. She gets 75% nhs funding and 25% social care funding so has to pay some contribution herself. She needs a specialist chair, she has been assessed for it, measured up and she needs it to sit in and support her posture and prevent pressure sores. Now the care unit she was at wrote to the NHS asking if they’d help fund it, they replied in 6 months but my mum needs it asap. Does NHS continuing healthcare funding cover or help cover some cost towards a piece of essential care need equipment? They seem to be saying yes in the letter, but fund it in a few months time. I’m so confused. Any help clarifying this would be helpful. Thank you.
Please help. My mum has been in her lovely home for 4 years. She has Continuing Healthcare (CHC) funding. She also has a 1:1 . 12 hours a day as high risk. We have just found out that CHC has not been meeting all the cost of the 1:1 and owe fees to the home. Mum had her 1:1 review – its still needed but they are fighting over the cost. The home says if 1:1 is awarded they won’t do it as not being paid enough by CHC to meet the cost. I belive the bands have changed on how much the CHC will pay. We are worried we will be forced to move mum to a cheaper option. Believe it’s not fair. But the home says they are losing money as the payment dosent cover it. What can we do??
My aunt has been financially assessed. No mention of a healthcare assessment although reading up on it her needs seem to be more health based than social based. However, she has been assessed as not having to pay anything so I wonder if it is best to let things lie- after all it is not up to me that the Local Authority may have got it wrong and not deemed her to be in need of a healthcare assessment
I have already posted here several times. I care full time at home for my adopted daughter who was born with profound, multiple and complex disabilities and is now under palliative care. I have received a Personal Health Budget since February 2015 but The CCG refuse to consider exactly what I am allowed to use the money for. Prior to 2015 I received an Independent Living Fund budget for about 15 years, readily meeting all of the required disciplines with none of this trauma. I have now written to well over 100 organisations, charities and campaigns seeking help with challenging the way I have been handled to no avail. Many months on the unpleasantness continues and has taken over my life. Currently I have been told that in September the CCG is planning to cease my funding and to hand it over to a ‘broker(?)’ even though I have actually done nothing wrong at all beyond disputing their attitudes. I now consider that their treatment of me is intentionally malicious and intimidating because I have been seeking advocacy.
Has anyone been successful in gaining NHS Continuing Healthcare funds for physical health. I could do with some tips please as I am at the Independent Review stage.
My partner aged 51 had a stroke a year ago (May 2017), followed by UTI sepsis, and then another stroke in November 2017. He has been assessed as having a Continuing Healthcare (CHC) need, and is now in a nursing home rather than a rehab facility, although he receives some physio etc. One issue I have with the nursing home is that, unlike the rehab facilities my partner resided in, the nursing home will not supply a carer to go with him to hospital and other external appointments, eg opticians etc unless I pay an extra charge (£30 etc) to cover the loss of staff from the floor. My partner has quite poor cognition, memory and speech problems and would always need someone with him who can explain and answer questions (on his behalf) at any such appointment. He often won’t understand why he is at an appointment etc.I cannot always be available for such appointments and I have posed the question what would be done if i was not around to assist? There is no-one else. My question is, should the CHC funding cover such extra costs, eg of carers going with my partner to external appointments? It is surely a need that he has and should be in his care package? The CCG have not answered by enquiry on this and I am curious as to why the rehab centres allowed carers to go with my partner, in their own transport admittedly, but the current nursing home is demanding I pay this extra cost. It didn’t help that the nursing home accepted my partner without completing the assessment of his needs as the transfer process was rushed, and then they realised they had issues about meeting his needs! Thanks
Can you help me please, I get full Continuing Healthcare (CHC) funding, am I allowed to go on holiday? I will pay for my holiday and also my carer’s, would she be entitled to her wages for caring for me while away?
We moved my Mum into a care home nearly 3 years ago – she has Parkinson’s with dementia – because the set up with carers in local sheltered housing wasn’t enough for her complex needs and she was having lots of falls etc. We were on a waiting list for a local authority care home, but it had no spaces and we were very concerned about Mum. We found a local care home, which was expensive but very close so we could visit and had a verbal, and then written, reassurance that when her funds ran out they wouldn’t expect her to leave. At no time did her social worker or the new home recommend or put in place an application for CHC funding which I believe they should have.
Mum had many falls in the home and they were the first to bring to my attention CHC funding – had only ever heard about it once from an elderly community nurse who said Mum wouldn’t be eligible for it. After a ‘around and around in circles’ experience which involved me ringing social service, NHS, GP – all pointing me to someone else to start the process, 6 months later the process started. Mum was found to be eligible and awarded NHS funding. However, we were told we had to pay ‘lifestyle choices’ which I didn’t question. Mum also has NHS funding for 1 to 1 carer for 10 hours a day because of her high risk for falls. At present, she is paying over £2,000 a month in these ‘lifestyle choice’ fees. Can these be asked for? I have recently written to ask for a breakdown of the monies to see what she is paying for, but it does seem a lot of money. At the same time, I know she is so fortunate to get funding and 1 to 1 and don’t want to seem ungrateful! People’s thoughts appreciated.
My 96 year old mum is in a similar position. She has had NHS CHC for three years and this year I was asked for nearly £900 a month for “Lifestyle Choices” The biggest being a chunk of over £100 per week for ” choosing to live in XXXXX Home in the market town of XXX” , along with other hoteltype charges. I queried these and was told by the NHS that I must pay them as they are not “care”,. Social care is only washing,dressing,toileting – they pay for nothing else. The nursing home manager told me that the NHS are fully aware and support these Lifestyle choice charges and the wording was agreed with the LA for the hotel-style services.
From the comment above:
if you qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare, the NHS must cover ALL your needs, whether they are social care needs or healthcare needs. It’s the whole package.”
The NHS have told me in writing that they have a CAP on what they will pay for care and they will not go above it. If I have to move mum, the home will probably cost more and they won’t pay the difference . They have said that if I can’t get another home nearby for the money, they would have to move her back to their locality.which is an hours drive away!
I called a nursing home in a different CCG area, still within 15 minutes from me and they charge £300 more. I told them it would be too much and the manager was stunned a there had never been any problem win the NHS accepting the charges. I am talking with the nursing home at the moment to reduce these fees and will probably have to pay something to keep mum there rather than moving her 1 hour away.
Question from Grace: Hi my father 12 weeks ago had pneumonia got sent home from hospital after 3days very unsteady and fell and broke his hip, he had a half hip replacement and has gone drastically down hill since he has Lewy Body Dementia has becom extremely aggressive was in rehab care home fell 4 times in 3 weeks and had a bleed to the brain . He has been back in hospital for 4 weeks now has slurred speech, hallucinations all day long become very violent towards staff, refusing food has lost a lot of weight and the little he does have he has trouble swallowing so food and drinks have to be thickened and purred, incontant, sleeps most of the day and reoccurring pneumonia. Consultant wants to put him in an EMI nursing home and stop giving antibiotics and let nature take it cause as he just keeps deteriating. The consultant says dad will most probably qualify for nhs continuing health care but the hospital social worker says it will be very hard and doesn’t seem keen and keeps saying “ don’t worry about that now” but doesn’t want to do the checklist before his discharge she says we will do it when he is in the home ? Any advice greatly appreciated.
Hi,
My brother is fully funded by the continued health care through PHB. I’ve just requested for him to be on direct payments so that he can have more say in his own care. They have set a meeting and said to us they want to be sure this is what we want! Also he lives in a property he can not afford, I have to pay for it. Housing benefits isn’t enough to cover it and he has many needs so finds it difficult to live just anywhere. I had to move him from his previous home which was supported living provided by a care provider where he had a house and care combined but the care they were providing was neglectful. Securing a new home for him was horrific and I got no support from no professionals and keeping it now I feel still unsupported. Can anyone advice?
Sarah
Hi my father is currently in hospital suffering from pneumonia but has terminal cancer. We have been told he is ‘end of life’ he was due to go to a hospice but this establishment now has Covid cases and as a family we won’t be able to visit him.
We have found a palliative care home nearer to my mother ( she has MS and heart problems) which has no covid and is allowing visits, however the local CHC funding team will not agree to place my father and has offered us 3 alternatives which we are not happy with and one has covid cases. We have offered to pay the shortfall if there is one but they are still refusing. What our rights and what should we do next? Any advice is welcome