Nursing home cost financing & cost of extras (activities etc)

carlandlenny

Hi,

I posted before on this but my mother has gotten a lot worse since and will need to be in a home soon. Have EPA and Fair Deal approval. Question about financing the home.

I guess most people put the family house up as collateral for the assessed balance you have to pay. However, my mother just has an interest in the house along with her siblings and to say they are estranged is putting it mildly. They would have to sign off on this, I just don't have the energy for all that hassle and stress.

My mother has savings (just about) to cover the Assessed weekly contribution from Principal Residence for 3 years.

Is there any downside to covering this cost from savings, vs using the family house?

Also, I hear there are "extras" that a nursing home will bill you for like activities and haircuts and the like. Could someone tell me about this please, as in what is covered and what not and the likely costs (Dublin)? I assume food is not charged for?

TIA.

naughtysmurf

Not in Dublin but monthly we get charged €108 social charge, assume this is for activities etc & a GSM charge of €10.00 (not exactly sure what that is ) other monthly costs that crop up from time to time are pharmacy & chiropodist

stargazer 68

Depends on the NH. Ours doesn't charge for activities. Extra charges are for pharmacy and chiropodist. And the hairdresser if you use it.

carlandlenny

Thanks for the replies.

@naughtysmurf Do you the GMS fee for tablets?

How much is the chiropodist and how often does one need that? And hairdresser?

naughtysmurf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122694692#Comment_122694692

Sorry, yes (typo)

Usually €35 for the chiropodist, I’d say maybe 3 times a year, it’s outsourced so somebody comes in & everyone is seen

naughtysmurf

just to add, a workmate of mine has an uncle in a nursing home who similar to your situation only had an interest in the family home, four siblings, HSE then calculated the nursing home lone on the 20% interest that he had so there was no running around to get approval or signing off as the siblings will not be affected financially so you should check that out, have you spoken to your local Nursing Home Loan / Fair Deal office, my experience with my own was that they were very good.

Food will be included in the cost

Ezeoul

My mother's nursing home had a social charge, a laundry charge, pharmacy charges (for any non-GMS and all OTC medications) and hairdressing charges. I also had to supply all her toiletries, (shower gel, deodourant, toothpaste etc) or they would buy them (from their own stock) and charge for them on the monthly invoice.

I eventually had to have a word with my mother's nursing home admin over excessive hairdressing charges. The care staff used to ask her "do you want your hair done?" every time the hairdresser came in (about once a week) but it resulted in an additional bill of around €100-€150 a month, which I was paying. It wasn't necessary and I felt they were taking ta bit of an advantage. Ask a woman with dementia if she wants her hair done, she is not going to remember she only got it done a few days ago!

They also charged for taking her to hospital appointments, if I couldn't take her - €20 per hour plus taxi fares (fair enough). Chiropody was free with a chiropody card - but maybe that was because she was diabetic.

On average, I'd say I paid about €250-€300 a month on top.

carlandlenny

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Ozzy1876

sorry to Hijack this thread but I have a question about the Nursing Home Loan on how long it takes for approval ? my dad owns a Georgian house in the city center of Dublin that is boarded up (It was a B&B) am i right in saying the HSE pays for the Nursing Home and when my Dad Passes , i pay the loan back?

Dcps

I genuinely feel absolutely taken advantage of by these nursing home fees, they are extortionate so he very vigilant what exactly they are charging. My mother has been in 3 different nursing homes all with varying degree of extra costs, the ones owned by larger foreign companies tend to have much higher extra fees for the same service. As far as I am aware age action Ireland tried to address the issue with government but didn't really get very much other than a statement about the costs. I also think the nursing home must prove the use of the services charged for such a participation in the activities or haircuts but the nursing homes will be very pushy to say this is not the case. Our latest bill in the new nursing home she attends was 1300 euro excess fees for the first month on top of the fair deal scheme and 100% if my mother pension. Just to add my great uncle was in a very well known nursing shome in Dublin being charged huge money per week for haircuts and he was bald, completely bald the family only found out the charge when they demanded a breakdown of costs. It's a really big issue and I strongly feel it needs to be addressed. Best wishes

MIKEKC

TThree nursing homes ? Why one must ask

foolhardy

What happens to elderly people who need nursing home care but don't own their own house to use to pay the fees? Like those in social housing or renting for example.

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122977504#Comment_122977504

They are treated the same - assessed on their means. My mother did not own her home, she was a council tenant. Her house was surrendered back to the local authority, and another family lives there now.

The Fair Deal Scheme covered a large portion of the fees involved, and there was a contribution of 80% of her income from her pensions (both Irish and UK) as well. The 20% balance of her pension went towards covering extra costs not covered by FDS and I made up any shortfall.

In fairness to the Nursing Home my mother was in, the bill was always itemised. Mistakes were made occasionally, (there were several patients with the same first name!) and that was to be expected, but I kept on top of it, and they were good at communicating with me.