Overcoming care funding hurdles
July 2024
A son shares the challenges of supporting his mum, Joan, being discharged from hospital and facing funding hurdles to get the care she needed.
Our journey started when visiting Mum, Joan, in her care home, only to find her in excruciating pain after a fall the previous day. When we got her into hospital we thought the worst was over, but our nightmare had just begun.
Mum’s care needs are both complex and high but we soon found, during the hospital discharge process, that neither the NHS or the local authority wanted to pay for her needs. As her family, we, along with her, were caught in the middle.
What hindered Joan’s discharge from hospital further was care home managers’ lack of knowledge of the either Continuing Health Care or local authority funding. Just like the local authority, the only question was how much the family could contribute. At one stage, her funding authority and the only home that would accept Mum were both requesting the family find £700 per week top up fees. Not only a breach of the Care Act, as we have since found out, but a totally impossible figure.
It was left to us to navigate the system and challenge professionals. It has been a huge learning curve and, right from the beginning, it has been a long, hard slog.
Battling to find a safe placement for our mum, while dealing with the emotional distress and frustration of the safeguarding incident that brought her to hospital in the first place has been physically and mentally exhausting.
She is now in a care home placement, having successfully challenged her funding and the need for a top up fee. However, this is only temporary while she is assessed for NHS funding and a new struggle now begins.
So far two assessments have been carried out, but deferred due to a lack of sufficient information in her care notes. We understand that it is yet another task in a busy day, but the outcome is crucial to Joan, and to her safe care and continued placement. So, it has been both a shock and an uphill struggle to encourage senior staff to properly understand Joan’s needs and have the right evidence available for the assessment team.
The frustration is huge, with the underlining fear of what will happen to Joan and her placement if they cannot do this. We either face crippling and unsustainable care bills (yes, we too are facing a cost of living crisis) or Joan loses this vital additional care because the care provider cannot evidence the need for the care they are providing.
So, our call to managers is this. Work with us. Take seriously where funding comes from and should come from, not just assume families with fill the gap regardless. Get to know your residents and their needs and be able to evidence this, when they need you to do this for them.
This isn’t too much to ask and will make a world of difference to exhausted family members, not to mention your relationship with us!
For support with any of the issues raised, check the information on our website, or contact our adviceline. We’re here to help.
An edited version of this blog was published in Care Home Management magazine, in our regular column sharing resident voices.