Almost 48,000 elderly people had to sell their home to pay for care in 2009, and many don’t know their rights.
With care costs running to £30,000 a year or more, thousands of people have no choice but to sell their home, sometimes when they've been given the wrong advice.
I can’t imagine there are many people who are comfortable with the prospect of selling their home for care, but for some there’s another problem: they’re either given the wrong information or they’re not told what their rights are. Some people are told they should pay for their own care when it should be the NHS that funds it. Others aren’t told about interest-free loan schemes that they may be able to sign up for. It can add more stress and worry to what is already a difficult time.
If a parent or relative needs to move into a care home, finding one that offers the right care can be a challenge.
If you saw Gerry Robinson’s TV programme on dementia care homes you may have been appalled by some of the care provided. How can you make sure a home provides decent care?
Over the next 20 years over a million of us are predicted to have dementia. Many aspects of the disease (with all its variations, including Alzheimer’s) are frightening, not least the idea that you’re likely to become totally reliant on other people for your wellbeing. And as Gerry Robinson's TV programme showed, some may have little understanding of your needs. Today, thousands end up in a care home when they – or family members – can no longer cope. The idea of going into a home is difficult enough. The thought of ending up in one that doesn’t take good care of you is truly shocking.
The government is planning major changes in how we pay for care for elderly people. How might the system change?
Every year thousands of elderly people have to sell their home to pay for the costs of their care. Now the government says this should stop.
In July 2009, the government launched its ‘Big Care debate’, looking at how we should pay for care for older people (ten years after the Royal Commission report on long term care, but - I guess - better late than never). The debate closed in November, but it will be some months before we will know what the government is planning. Official figures show that average care costs for a 65-year-old man are £22,300, but costs for women are almost double at £40,400. And while some people need care costing hundreds of thousands of pounds, others need very little. The problem is that until the time arrives you have no idea how much care you will need.
