Looking for quality elderly care is a demanding and emotional process, frequently experienced for the first time. Its therefore not surprising that among the hundreds of questions requiring an answer, the most prominent one is What are the costs and how will I afford them?
Given the importance of this question, it is a sad statistic that currently only eight per cent of self funding care patients receive proper financial advice to fully inform them of the options that are out there. There are several specialist financial advisers out there, who are both accredited and independent, offering a full advice and support service, without bias towards one particular care provider or style of care.
This begs the questions, why aren’t care providers helping to increase these organisations visibility? A financially informed and secure patient, whether with live-in care or in a home, will be less stressed, as will their support network, creating a more relaxed environment for all concerned. Providing this patient/adviser relationship also makes sound business sense, as patients who take advice are far less likely to default on the payment of fees and reduce the potential burden on the state sector through proper finance management.
The Government has recognised this phenomenon and has begun to put steps in place to increase the financial advice available to patients. A commission has recently been set up to explore the issues surrounding funding care and support. This commission is fully independent and expected to report back within a year.
You can find more information here: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/
A good website to find Care Homes in your area is: http://www.carehome.co.uk/care_search.cfm
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