Dementia OAPs turned away by ‘cherry-picking’ care homes, charity warns
CARE homes are refusing to accept residents with advanced dementia because they are too expensive and difficult to care for, according to a charity.
The chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society said its helpline was being bombarded with calls from worried families as relatives are refused care or even evicted when their condition deteriorates.
Some families have had to phone dozens of homes before they find one that will accept residents with advanced dementia.
Care home managers are said to be ‘cherry-picking’ individuals who do not have dementia because they are easier – and
‘Ended up in a home 200 miles away’
cheaper – to care for. The problem has got markedly worse over the past two years, according to the charity’s chief executive Jeremy Hughes, because hundreds of homes have closed.
Mr Hughes said: ‘Families phone us up and say, “What do we do? We’ve been told our mum, dad or sister needs to move into a care home. But we can’t find a care home to take them.’
‘Barely a day goes by when our helpline doesn’t get a call from someone saying, “What can I do?” Increasingly, we’re hearing of care homes having to “cherry-pick” people who are easier to support because they don’t get enough money from local authorities to cover the cost of specialist dementia care. We have cases of people with relatives who have ended up in a care home 200 miles away – because they can’t find anything closer.’
A woman in Cheshire told the charity she contacted more than 30 homes before finding one suitable to accept her mother, who had vascular dementia.
Eight care homes refused to take Alzheimer’s sufferer Jean Smurthwaite when they found out she was incontinent. Her daughter Tracey Morton said: ‘It felt like they only wanted a certain extent of dementia.’ Mrs Smurthwaite died before her family found a suitable home.
Another caller was told by a manager they could no longer meet her mother’s deteriorating needs and she should instead employ a 24-hour carer at a cost of £8,000 a month.
Nadra Ahmed, chairman of the National Care Association, representing small and medium care providers, said: ‘Providers aim to give the best care they can so they will do that by only taking residents whose needs can be easily met by the staff and the funding envelope.’