Can the value of a house be counted when paying for Care at Home?

Can the value of a house be counted when paying for Care at Home?

am 17.07.2006 17:44:21 von junk1

My nan is disabled and recieves care at home to help her out of bed,
wash her etc. Her health had detoriated and she has moved in with my
dad (still receiving care at home from social services.)

While she was living in her own home she had to pay about half of the
cost of this care as it is means tested and my nan had some modest
savings. But the value of her home wasnt taken into account, we were
told (by social) that they dont include the value of the home.

Now that she is living with my Dad im not sure what the best thing to
do with her old house is?

Will it be included as an asset now she is not living in it?

If it is then she will probably pay the full cost of the care package,
but cant afford to do this without actually selling the house which she
doesnt want to do as one day she hopes to move back into her house.

Can social include the value of this house as an asset?


Thanks

David Bevan


PS - Im NOT talking about residential care where obviously the value of
a house is always taken as an asset.

Re: Can the value of a house be counted when paying for Care at Home?

am 17.07.2006 17:53:39 von Martin McGowan

wrote:
> My nan is disabled and recieves care at home to help her out of bed,
> wash her etc. Her health had detoriated and she has moved in with my
> dad (still receiving care at home from social services.)
>
> While she was living in her own home she had to pay about half of the
> cost of this care as it is means tested and my nan had some modest
> savings. But the value of her home wasnt taken into account, we were
> told (by social) that they dont include the value of the home.
>
> Now that she is living with my Dad im not sure what the best thing to
> do with her old house is?
>
> Will it be included as an asset now she is not living in it?
>
> If it is then she will probably pay the full cost of the care package,
> but cant afford to do this without actually selling the house which she
> doesnt want to do as one day she hopes to move back into her house.
>
> Can social include the value of this house as an asset?
>
>
> Thanks
>
> David Bevan
>
>
> PS - Im NOT talking about residential care where obviously the value of
> a house is always taken as an asset.
>

Have a long look at www.NHSCare.info regarding free NHS continuing
care. The NHS is very keen on transferring its duty of care to
Social services, when they shouldn't. if there is a medical
diagnosis such as Alzheimer's or anything else such as post trauma
then it is the responsibility of NHS to pay, not your Nan through
social services means testing.
and actually the same applies to residential care where there is a
medical problem causing the care need. social services will try to
band the care and make you pay. If it's medically or trauma caused
then all the care costs are down to the NHS.
Martin McGowan

Re: Can the value of a house be counted when paying for Care at Home?

am 17.07.2006 19:14:15 von junk1

> Have a long look at www.NHSCare.info regarding free NHS continuing
> care

Thanks but we had already done this, but the care she is receiving -
lifting her out of bed, changing her, feeding her etc - does count as
medical, its social.

David Bevan

Re: Can the value of a house be counted when paying for Care at Home?

am 17.07.2006 19:21:46 von Neaco

> Have a long look at www.NHSCare.info regarding free NHS continuing care.
> The NHS is very keen on transferring its duty of care to Social services,
> when they shouldn't. if there is a medical diagnosis such as Alzheimer's
> or anything else such as post trauma then it is the responsibility of NHS
> to pay, not your Nan through social services means testing.
> and actually the same applies to residential care where there is a medical
> problem causing the care need. social services will try to band the care
> and make you pay. If it's medically or trauma caused then all the care
> costs are down to the NHS.
> Martin McGowan

The NHS is only keen on transferring those elements of costs that are *NOT*
health related. If there is a need for health input into the nursing care,
the NHS should (and probably will) fund it. What is normal these days is
that there is joint care assessment done by the local social services and
the local Primary Care Trust and from that they will decide if the patient
requires either all health input, or a split of health/social care nursing
input or all social care nursing. The split between what is health and what
is social care nursing is very clearly defined and although some will see an
assessment for social care as being the NHS "we don't want to pay" attitude,
it is untrue, and the local Primary Care Trust should find the funding along
with all the other things it has to fund. If somebody disagrees with an
assessement, they could always make an appeal and from there follow the
normal route for complaints with either the local authority social services
or Primary Care Trust. If you want to fight the system even more, then
either pay more taxes, move to Scotland or vote Conservative (who will
probably scrap it) or Liberal Democrat (who will tax you more, but you might
just get what you want).

Re: Can the value of a house be counted when paying for Care at Home?

am 17.07.2006 19:25:07 von Neaco

>> Have a long look at www.NHSCare.info regarding free NHS continuing
>> care
>
> Thanks but we had already done this, but the care she is receiving -
> lifting her out of bed, changing her, feeding her etc - does count as
> medical, its social.
>
> David Bevan
>
>

See this and make sure your local PCT and social services are following the
correct guidelines. You can make a Freedom of Information request to see
what their local policies are and see if they're consistant with the DoH
policy:

Re: Can the value of a house be counted when paying for Care at Home?

am 17.07.2006 20:31:40 von Martin McGowan

wrote:
>> Have a long look at www.NHSCare.info regarding free NHS continuing
>> care
>
> Thanks but we had already done this, but the care she is receiving -
> lifting her out of bed, changing her, feeding her etc - does count as
> medical, its social.
>
snip
It doesn't matter what the care she receives is, it is why she
receives the care. Martin McGowan