Arranging long-term care for a family member can feel like a daunting task, but understanding the process can make it much more manageable than you might think.
As family caregivers, we all strive to provide the best for our loved ones, which can sometimes create a sense of pressure when planning for their long-term needs. From exploring different care options to navigating payment plans and benefits, there’s a lot to consider when it comes to long-term care planning.
In this guide, we hope to demystify the process and provide the long-term care advice you need to make informed decisions about the most suitable care for your loved ones.
What is long-term care?
Long-term care encompasses a range of services designed to meet the ongoing needs of individuals who require assistance with daily activities due to chronic illness, disability, or ageing. These services can include support with tasks such as bathing, dressing, medication management, and meal preparation.
Long-term care typically benefits people living with ongoing health conditions, people experiencing mobility issues or those finding that daily activities are becoming difficult to carry out on their own. Depending on the individual’s needs and preferences, long-term care can be provided in various settings, including at home, assisted living facilities, or nursing homes.
Types of long-term care
Like many of the care services available, long-term care comes in many shapes and sizes. From in-home care to care provided in a residential setting, long-term care can adapt to suit your loved one’s care needs.
Home care
Long-term home care includes both visiting care and live-in care. An advantage to home care is that your loved one can stay in the familiar surroundings of their own home. A home carer will either visit the individual to a pre-arranged schedule or reside inside the home, being on hand to help and support your loved one.
Another benefit of home care is that the care is individualised and tailored to your loved one’s care needs. A fully-regulated care provider like Trinity Homecare will aim to perfectly match an individual to a carer who can deliver a personalised service. Whether it is companion care your loved one requires or long-term help with daily activities, home care is designed around the needs and preferences of the individual.
Live-in care
A type of home care, live-in care is a viable alternative to residential care. With live-in care, there is none of the disruption or upheaval of moving from home. Your loved one will receive the care they need from the comfort of home.
A live-in carer moves into your family member’s home to care for them around the clock. Residing in the home, a live-in carer can assist with morning and evening routines, personal care, household chores, medication management and transportation to social engagements and hospital appointments. Live-in care also gives you the peace of mind that your loved one is cared for day and night.
Find out more about the role of a live-in carer and explore the many ways in which a live-in carer can support your loved one.
Residential care
Long-term care facilities such as a residential care home are also an option to consider. There are different types of long-term care facilities available. However, choosing between a nursing home and residential care is dependent on your loved one’s needs. It is important to note that the main difference between nursing homes and residential care is the support offered.
Nursing homes are ideal for those individuals needing more complex medical assistance as nursing staff are available on-site. Residential long-term care provides personal support with daily activities such as bathing, dressing and medication management. Residential care facilities also offer an array of activities and social outings to entertain their residents.
How to plan for long-term care
Planning for long-term care ahead of time can take the stress out of arranging care for your loved one. Leaving long-term care planning until the last moment can not only be overwhelming, but it can interfere with the decision-making process. Should your elderly loved one’s circumstances change and they require extra care, a prearranged care plan will ensure their preferences are heard and validated.
Unfortunately, as we age, health can deteriorate quickly, and we may not get the chance to voice our care preferences. Putting together a care plan in advance saves you and your loved one the hassle of making important decisions at the last minute.
Here are a few questions to consider when planning for long-term care:
- What is your loved one’s preferred type of care? Home care, 24/7 care, residential or nursing home care?
- Which aspects of daily life would your loved one require assistance with?
- Are there any existing health conditions your loved one needs help with?
- What is your loved one’s long-term care budget?
- Are they eligible for long-term care funding?
- Are they entitled to claim benefits?
How to pay for long-term care
When pre-planning for long-term care, it is also important to consider your loved one’s budget. Long-term care costs depend on a number of factors, from an individual’s health status and mobility to the level of assistance they need.
Fortunately, there are also opportunities to access financial support and additional help from healthcare services. However, this also depends on an individual’s financial situation and entitlement to such schemes.
Our financing and funding home care guide has all you need to know about long-term care costs, access to funding and benefit entitlements.
Here are a few funding options that may be worth considering when paying for long-term care.
Self-funding care
Self-funding involves your loved one paying for their own care. Before considering self-funding, other funding sources should be explored to ensure your loved ones are getting all the funding they are entitled to.
If they are not eligible for funding and are going down the self-funding route, the next step is to work out a budget. When you have a figure in mind, this can help establish whether your loved one’s preferred form of care is affordable and what their options realistically are.
There are benefits to self-funding, as your loved one can create a tailor-made care plan to suit their specific needs and preferences. Self-funding provides your loved one with a high level of control over their long-term care planning.
For more information on self-funding long-term care, download our useful Self-funding Care Guide.
Local authority funding
Local authority funding is another avenue to explore in terms of financial help for long-term care. It is worth getting in touch with your local council to find out what they can offer.
The amount of funding you may be entitled to will be based on a care needs assessment. In addition, a financial or means assessment will be carried out to establish how much your loved one should pay towards their own care. Their assets, including savings, investments and properties, are considered..
Means testing involves assessing whether your loved one is financially eligible to receive funding for their care. Factors that affect eligibility include:
- Age
- Location in the UK
- Type of care service (e.g. care home, live-in care)
- Discretion of the local authority
NHS continuing healthcare
Healthcare in the UK is free at the point of delivery. Therefore, if you have an identified healthcare need and you are receiving live-in care in your own home, you may be eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding, which is arranged and funded by your local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
A healthcare need relates to the treatment, control or prevention of a disease, illness, injury or disability and the after care of a person living with these conditions. Having a disability or having been diagnosed with a long-term illness may not, on its own, qualify you or your loved one for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding.
Unfortunately, dementia care is typically not considered a healthcare need, so will not always be funded through this type of funding.
Check your benefit entitlements
Aside from long-term care funding, your loved one might be entitled to certain benefits that could go towards paying for their care. Even if you think they might not be eligible for financial assistance, it is worth double checking.
Here are some of the most common Benefit Entitlements your loved one may be eligible to receive.
Attendance Allowance
Individuals of state pension age and over can claim Attendance Allowance if they have needed care over the past six months. This type of benefit is based on the care a person requires and not the care that they currently receive, helping fill any gaps in their care needs.
Care home residents receiving local authority funding for their care may not be eligible for Attendance Allowance. However, if an individual is self-funding their care in a care home, they can claim an Attendance Allowance.
Attendance Allowance entitlement is assessed on the individual’s needs. If your loved one needs care during the day or night, they may be eligible for the lower rate (£68.10 for 2023/24). Those individuals requiring support throughout the day and night may be able to receive the higher rate (£101.75 for 2023/24).
Personal Independence Payment
Should your loved one require support for their care but are under the state pension age, they may be entitled to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
PIP is for anyone under the state pension age who needs help moving around or carrying out daily tasks. The individual must have experienced these difficulties for at least three months and expect them to continue for another nine months to be eligible for PIP.
PIP is made up of two parts: mobility and daily living. The mobility component is geared towards supporting an individual with getting around, transportation and planning journeys. The daily living component supports an individual in carrying out everyday tasks, including bathing, preparing meals and helping with communication.
Council Tax discounts and exemptions
If you have savings of less than £16,000, you may be able to receive a council tax reduction. This will be confirmed once you have undergone an assessment. For those claiming as a single occupant, you will still be able to claim if you have a live-in carer. With a formal diagnosis of dementia, you may be exempt from council tax payments or will be offered a discount depending on the severity of your condition.
How to arrange long-term care with Trinity Homecare
Once you have discussed and decided upon the type of care required, arranging long-term care is the next step to take. Should you or your loved one have any questions regarding their long-term care planning, simply get in touch with our care team, which will be happy to help.
From making that initial call to our care team through to undergoing a no-obligation long-term care assessment, we will guide your family throughout the entire process.
Arranging long-term care with Trinity is straightforward. Simply follow these five steps:
- Call our care team
- Undergo a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss your care needs and arrange a care assessment
- After the assessment, a plan of care is created
- A perfect one to one carer is found and placed
- Care can be adapted at any time