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.
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.