Financial help with care costs but what about cleaning

[Paula_1807]

Hello, I am looking for advice please...my very elderly mum lives at home, she has dementia and is double incontinent. Lately she has been taking off her pads and weeing /pooing on the floor not everyday but very often. The community matron has visited her and she complained to the care agency about the smell. My mum is funding her own care but I have just put a claim into the council for financial help as her savings are now £20,000 and dwindling rapidly as I have to take at least £1,200 from her savings per month to pay for her care and meal delivery. Now social services are involved and I have been told I need to get the house a deep clean, at my mum’s expense and arrange a weekly cleaner via age uk. This will cost £20 per hour and the minimum is 1.5 hours per week. Well my mums carers used to keep the house pretty shipshape and I agree with the deep clean but it’s the ongoing cleaning which is a problem. I live 130 miles away, working running my own business and can’t get down to visit my mum very often. Why can’t the carers carry on with the cleaning? What happens when my mums saving run out? Who knows how long the council will take to give her some financial help with paying for the care she receives. She can’t pay for cleaners as well until I know what help she will get. The social worker is giving it all for me to deal with, my mental health is a a very low ebb after just going through a very hard divorce, I have had no money myself for 18 months and am still waiting on a pension share form my ex hence working all hours. I really don't know what to do and this is stressing me out. I really don’t know how willing I am to be involved anyway which seems harsh but I really have had enough. Any advice or experiences will be gratefully received.

[Londonbound]

The council in my area North Yorkshire are cutting services and only provide the care, any other services, shopping, cleaning you have to pay for yourselves.

The council should be stepping in to help as the savings figure is £23,250, your mum now has less than that.

Has anyone told you about Continuing Health Care, it's free NHS Care but you need to qualify to get it, ask the GP for a CHC assessment.

As your mum has dementia and is doubly incontinent, your mum clearly needs more help so may qualify for CHC.

The social worker should be helping with all this but often don't leaving the family to sort things out.

Hopefully other forum members can advise a bit more.

[Paula_1807]

Thanks for advice..the social worker is hounding me. Calling and emailing to ask if I have sorted this out..she only emailed me the details of who I need to contact late this morning and I have not had the time to really look into this. She wants me to call her which I will do when I have some time to spare, she is very long winded and tells me the same thing over and over again. I really didn’t expect the council to pay for cleaning but until help with care funding is out in place not sure my mum can afford a weekly cleaner. Hadn’t thought about CHC

[bowlingbun]

I know you are the daughter, but you are NOT responsible for mum. Social Services are trying it on. They MUST now do a full financial assessment, tell them that there will be NO MORE MONEY until they do! Yes, you can do that. Mum needs full time nursing care now, it's only going to get worse and worse from now on. Is she claiming Attendance Allowance. Did you know she was EXEMPT from Council Tax since the day of diagnosis, and this can be backdated?
If they want it deep cleaned, they'd better get on and organise it, and pay for it themselves.

[Paula_1807]

Thanks Bowlingbun, she is really stressing me out...two more phone calls and long message. I am not my mum keeper daughter or not. I have done my stint and moved away as I needed a new life. You are right if social services want the house deep cleaned the they should sort it out. Yes she gets attendance allowance, guaranteed pension income credits and pays no council tax. I have sent an email saying I won’t be organising the cleaning anytime soon. The social worker has been mentioning neglect and so I think this has been up,one’d for her to get sorted.

[bowlingbun]

Put your answer phone on. If you don't want the social worker calling, block her number an tell her to email you instead. In this way you will have written evidence of what is going on, she may not realise! Keep a diary of calks, print off emails and file them. You are sitting on a volcano, it's tough, but be strong. I have had years of problems, made Hampshire refund £8,000 of funds wrongly charged!!!

[sunnydisposition]

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-ca ... eans-test/

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-ad ... -for-care/

[Paula_1807]

Have already had two emails from social worker, still wants to call me. I have emailed her asking for proper needs assessment. Financial assessment and CHC assessment. Have told her I won’t make decisions as to the care my mum needs, I don’t have a health and welfare LPA nor do I feel qualified to do so. She also sent me a consent form which I had already signed and returned to her grrr. She still seems to want to pass the buck as much as she can.

[bowlingbun]

Consent form? For what?

Go to the website for the council and search for "Adult Services Complaints". Fill in the form.
Complain especially that your request to communicate via email is being ignored.
DO NOT ANSWER HER CALLS. BLOCK HER NUMBER!

[sunnydisposition]

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/healt ... -services/