Cost cap would’ve comforted us all
JIMMY Quinn’s family was forced to sell his home and cash in his life savings to fund his care after he developed Alzheimer’s disease.
The falklands veteran needed specialist dementia care after his condition deteriorated during lockdown, leaving his family facing a £1,400-a-week care bill.
His daughter Natalie said they had to sell his home in Yeovil and his ISA savings to fund the costs, and said the Government’s reform would have been a comfort to her family.
She said: ‘My parents worked so hard for everything and had been careful with their money all their lives, so it was really sad to have to sell Dad’s ISAs and the house they loved, but it was the only way to pay the care home bill.’
Mr Quinn served in the Navy as an aircraft mechanic and was stationed on the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible during the falklands Conflict in 1982.
He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s last year and died in february, aged 75.
His daughter said: ‘He had been living at home with mild dementia but then all of a sudden he became very confused and would go out walking the streets. He almost got run over, and then he left the gas on, so we just couldn’t cope.
‘Sadly he died eight weeks after we sold the house, but we were expecting that he would need care for months and months, maybe even for years. These changes have come too late for me and my family, but it is a step in the right direction, and it would have helped us to know that there was a cap on how much money we would have had to find.’