Good to see the Govt grappling with care

ISUSPECT my fellow Old Codgers were paying close attention last week when the Government announced that if we had to go in to a care home in old age we would not have to sell our home to pay for it.

This has been promised by previous governments - but never implemented.

It is a subject of key importance to me now that I am nearly 80 and maybe heading for the point when I need a care home.

This has been a worry for me since 1995 when my mother had to go into a home despite assurances I gave her that I would never put her into a home.

I worked with social services to try to get her good care in her own bungalow but eventually her health reached a point where social services insisted she received care 24 hours a day.

Finding a good home for her was not easy. I worked on a basis of “would I want to live here”, and many of the homes could not pass that test.

Eventually we did find one that we considered was better than most, but when we took my mum there to visit, she soon decided it was not for her.

I was accompanied by social services who in the end suggested she should give it a try.

The next debate was with the county council who gave me a choice of selling her bungalow to pay for her care at the home, or placing these costs as a charge on the bungalow while I rented it out.

I was told it was unlikely that as she was already 85 years old that she would survive more than three years more. In fact she lived in that home until she was 93 – and by then the money from selling her bungalow had just about run out.

In the early days of her stay, we would bring her back to our house every Sunday for the day. Initially she liked this arrangement but progressively preferred not to leave the home each time and kept asking to be taken back.

Since then I have always understood why when a home closes, the residents are so unhappy at having to move to a new location.

Dementia at close quarters is bad enough without being passed around to places you do not know. So maybe as I get closer to the point that senior management has to put me in a home, like my mother I am clear that I want to stay in my home… but I also have to think about senior management and how she can cope if I am subject to dementia in a year or two. What I want may not be practical, and my children may insist that I go in to care.

We are lucky, we do have some pension that can pay some of the residential costs and my care costs… but eventually that will run out and although the Government scheme may pay my care costs after the first £86,000, my family will still have to find the money for my board and lodging costs. I know my children will not complain if my house is sold to meet this bill, but where is senior management supposed to go to live if she is hopefully still in good health?

I do suspect there is wisdom in limiting the cost of care in old age met by the state, but I am not sure making younger people pay for my care by raising the National Insurance tax they pay is particularly fair as I do not pay this tax. At least an attempt has been made to care for us seniors as we get even older… but I do hope they can find a more generous scheme. The alternative is I may have to finish life a bit earlier than expected!

It is of key importance to me now that I am nearly 80 and maybe heading for the point when I need a care home.