Financial assessment for care in the home

[Guest]

Hi everyone. Have not posted for a while but we have the financial assessment for care in the home on Friday. I have tried to gather together all the information they want but it does seem intrusive. Just got over decision not to help with adaptations grant so ask if there any tips you can give me to help I would be grateful.

Magic

[Smudge]

Just about to go through this ourselves. We've got some woman coming out on Thursday. I've already had a run in with her today because she keeps ringing John to change the appointment & when I told her that all call should come via me she claimed that HCC don't have my details. Which is wierd because they phoned me today to change the same appointment.
She also gave me a patronising lecture on the the best use of taxpayers money not being spent on her mileage to come out on home visits.
I'm not sure we're going to hit it off!
Hampshire County Council only consider John's income for Homecare, but New Forest District Council consider our joint income for the building grant, but not our outgoings. The whole system seems to be set up in other people's favour & although we are getting council funding for getting John up and dressed whilst the assessment is going through, the reality is that they turn up as and when they feel like it, if at all, there are varying degrees of competence and the whole thing is alot more stressful than when I do it myself.
Rant over.

[magic]

We are on a similar situation. We got nothing for the adaptations but MNDA are considering making a contribution. I cannot complain about the care service that, like you, is at the free assessment stage. I have studied the leaflet that LA sent me and wonder if all of council tax is taken into consideration or is it half? Just want to pay as little as possible as the £30k for aids and adaptations has gobbled our retirement fund..
I would be complaining about that member of staff. The government guidelines on the process are very clear and recommend home visits,, flexibility and one minds. She is in the wrong job.
Hoe it all goes well.

Magic

[magic]

We are on a similar situation. We got nothing for the adaptations but MNDA are considering making a contribution. I cannot complain about the care service that, like you, is at the free assessment stage. I have studied the leaflet that LA sent me and wonder if all of council tax is taken into consideration or is it half? Just want to pay as little as possible as the £30k for aids and adaptations has gobbled our retirement fund..
I would be complaining about that member of staff. The government guidelines on the process are very clear and recommend home visits,, flexibility and open minds. She is in the wrong job.
Hoe it all goes well.

Magic

[Caterina]

Hi, yes the financial assessment is intrusive! However it may be helpful to remind you that you need to tale great care when choosing your care provider! Local authorities usually provide a free service for about 6 weeks until they them pass the package to a private domicilliary care company --- following the financial assessment-- and their assessment of need.

You should be given options regarding the provider.. Ask about CQC reports, ask if calls can be time critical, ask if you will have permanent carers, ask about Direct Payments, ask if you will still have to pay if the call is missed or cancelled for whatever reason.
Ensure that the company can meet your needs, can the carers use specialist equipment and have they been trained to do so. Be mindful that there is a world of difference between nursing care and home care
Most (but not all) care companies are profit led! If you choose direct payments you effectively become the employer.

[magic]

Thanks Caterina, you have given me quite a check list. I do the cough assist and help P with NIV. I would like carers to take over the cleaning of the masks as I can forget to do it. Not sure what I can ask them to do.

Magic

[Caterina]

Which ever route you decide to take, prior to starting the package the assessment process should be in place to ensure that needs and wishes are met, from this assessment a comprehensive care or service plan should be written which should include all the tasks that you wish the carers to complete at each visit. So whatever needs to be done needs to be discussed at the assessment. I would also request regular reviews so that as needs change, tasks, call times and wishes continue to be met.

[magic]

Peter's needs assessment has taken place. On Friday we have the assessment of or financial contribution. To date I have a god relationship with social worker and have an investigation ongoing by my MP on closing cases for people with MND. We have had carers for 2 hours a day for the last 4 weeks and it has been pretty positive. We will have to have a different team in soon and I hope we can continue the same standards.

Magic

[Caterina]

I am pleased that it has worked so well for you and Peter so far, I hope when the transition takes place it continues to do so. Sending kind thoughts to you both

[Smudge]

Hi Magic

We've just had the assessment done and it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. She only looked at John's income, but also calculated everything else on the basis that we share all bills and mortgage etc equally. From that, she established that all his care needs will be funded by Hampshire County Council and we don't have to contribute anything. The whole process took less than half an hour because we had all the paper work we needed ready. Getting an instant answer was really good too. Yesterday I also sent off the application for the Disabled Facilities Grant and this morning I got an email to say that we have to fund the first £22k, really impressed with the speedy response & am just off now to pluck some £50 notes from the money tree in the garden to pay our share ;-)

Wendy x

[magic]

Thanks for that Wendy. Think your contribution to adaptations has some impact on the financial assessment. I will let you know what happens tomorrow.

Magicq

[magic]

Had assessment yesterday and we have to make a large contribution towards care.. I recently took phased retirement that involved a reduction in working hours and me receiving three quarters of pension and lump sum. This provided money for adaptations. Learnt yesterday that the pension is taken into consideration but the salary is not. I definitely would not have taken phased retirement if I had known this. Fee
I g a bit grim as would not be paying anything if I had not taken phased retirement.

Magic

[Smudge]

That's rubbish news magic and I'm really sorry to hear that. It looks as though each Local Authority does things differently because ours didn't even look at my income for the care.
It's a really unfair system - do you have a right of appeal?

[magic]

Not sure about appeal but will seek some advice. LA also have stopped considering the amount we pay onwards respite care. They would not allow all that we pay the cleaner because she is not part of a formal company. Feel we cannot get too upset about it a have to make every day special. Thank you for kind thoughts.

Mahic